Falling Stars
by robbiepoo2341
Summary: Alternate Universe: The Titans in a scifi world. Lieutenant Grayson and Commander Stone are suddenly recruited to help the impatient Commander Raven with an unexpected mission.
1. 1 The Azirian

Okay, my fics seem to have been amassing some attention, so I though I'd try something...different. This is an AU scifi fic, and yes, I do use the character's real names, although I also use their TT names. If you don't like Star Trek, then you may not understand the connections, but you will still understand the storyline, so no worries there.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything but the storyline.

Chapter 1

The lights blared and bodies rushed everyone around Richard, but he managed not to get knocked down. Pushing his way through, he was able to finally reach the getaway pod and felt immediately at ease the moment he cleared the planet's atmosphere. That latest mission had supposedly been successful, but he didn't want to stick around to see what the repurcussions of blowing up an enemy base would be.

Richard had jet black hair and bangs that came down just over his blue eyes. He was the youngest security officer on board his starship (sixteen years old and already he was amassing quite the reputation, in fact), but he didn't mind as much as long as he got that respect he deserved. And he did, for the most part, seeing as he was in the running to be head of security now that the previous head was taking an early retirement.

The only other person on board that came anywhere close to his age was his friend Victor, who was eighteen. Although Victor was, in fact, only part human (the other half of him was metal due to an engine explosion in previous years) he was still the best friend Richard had. He didn't mind that his nickname was 'Cyborg'. In fact, he rather embraced the name and often used it more than his real name.

As Richard stumbled into the boarding room out of the small pod, the sound of slight applause echoed in his ears, and he turned to see the rest of his team. So they had made it undamaged so far, that was good. He shook his head to clear his vision, then accepted with broad smiles the warm embraces of his friends.

Then the captain himself walked in, smiling. This caught everyone off guard, mostly because none had ever seen Captain Wayne smile before. "Good job, Lieut. Grayson," he said calmly, though his eyes twinkled with admiration, "It seems you have led your team quite masterfully."

He grinned cockily. "Thank you sir," he breathed happily.

As the rest of the team celebrated, Richard watched the captain leave. What he had to do to earn some respect...

"Yo! Robin! Get over here!" Victor called from across the room. "Can't you ever just have fun for once?"

He smiled slightly when Victor used his nickname. His teammates had dubbed him 'Robin' for the red-crested bird on Earth when, during a mission, he had taken such a bad hit that his normally yellow security uniform became bright red, and yet he was still moving with the agility of such a bird. Months later, after many weeks in the hospital and a few celebratory parties, the team had watched the security footage so many times that they began to call it the 'robin tape'. The name stuck.

But he didn't want to take part in the celebrations. As much as he may have enjoyed his time as a security officer, there were some things that he had seen in his time, and some that no other officer had ever seen, that he wished he could forget. He would not be able to celebrate when he knew that their victory could have cost thousands of people their lives. No, Richard was not the type to do much partying at all.

As the doors to the elevator opened, he was surprised to see that there was a new crew member aboard. This girl must have been just about his age, perhaps even a little younger, although she carried herself as if she were a distinguished gentlewoman. Though she appeared to be human, she wore the long blue cloak of an Azirian monk over her uniform, and her forehead sported the gemstone singular to the planet of Aziria. And had she dyed her hair, or was it always purple?

The Azirians were a peculiar people; many of them appeared to be comletely human except for their four eyes, and some were rumored to be born with immense powers. They were also empaths, able to comprehend the feelings of several people at once, which made them great counselors for a ship.

So he was not surprised when she turned to him and said softly, "You've got to stop berating yourself about all the violence you've seen. It's going to affect you in the worst way possible."

He sighed, yes, she was Azirian. Those people had a way of just coming out and saying what needed to be said. In fact, it was rumored that no Azirian could tell a lie, although he had met a few that could sure come close...

"So..." he ventured, "if you're an Azirian, how come you don't look like one?"

She stiffened up a bit. "That's none of your business."

"If you're on this ship, I make it my business to know everything about you," he shot back.

"This is why I hate security officers. They have too much faith in their own abilities," she sighed.

He grinned cockily. "Well, that's for you to be the judge of, I guess, but you still haven't told me anything about yourself or even why you're on the ship," he prodded.

"I wasn't aware that it was neccessary to spill my guts to everyone I meet," she replied coldly.

Chuckling, he replied, "It's not. But are you here to replace our previous counselor?" When she looked as if she were about to shout at him, he raised his arms in defense. "Yeah, yeah, I know I'm not supposed to ask questions, but I've got to know if you're going to be a member of our crew here or not. Don't I have the right to know who I'm going to be obliged to protect?"

Finally, she turned towards him, anger in her eyes. "If you must know, I am here to speak personally to the captain about a member of the crew here. We have a certain..situation on our hands back at the headquarters and-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Slow down. What's going on back home?" he asked, eyes widening at the revelation as his cocky attitude disappeared.

She pulled her hood up, shielding her violet eyes. "You probably wouldn't know the people I've been asked to involve, as I'm told that they are highly trained operatives and well behaved young men," she shot back.

"So...are you going to tell me or not?"

The door opened, revealing the bridge of the ship. She stepped off, and just as the doors closed she said, "Oh, and would you tell Commander Stone and Lieutenant Grayson to come up here as soon as possible?"

His mouth dropped open a bit, but he caught himself as the doors closed. He reached up to his shoulder to activate the tiny communicator. "Robin to Cyborg...Um...I think we're needed at the bridge," he said, still recovering a bit from the shock.

"What's got you so worked up?" his friend's voice asked through the system.

"Nothing, nothing," he replied quickly, quickly punching in the numbers for the elevator to take him back to the bridge.

He stepped out, and all eyes turned towards him. "Hi...I'm supposed to..." he offered feebly.

"You'll be briefed in the captain's ready room," said a voice behind him. It was Alfred, the elderly first officer.

He nodded his thanks, then strode quickly to the said room. As soon as the door opened, the Azirian rose. "What are you doing here?" she asked curtly.

Grinning cockily, he brought his hand up into a quick salute, saying, "Lieutenant Richard Grayson, ma'am." His tone was mocking and he shot her a look that said: That's right, it's me. Deal with it.

As she fumbled for words, Victor came strolling in. Smiling as he always was, he stuck out his hand in a polite greeting, but she refused the gesture, sitting down in an almost sulking manner.

"Now that the two of you are here, why don't you tell us what is going on, Commander Raven?" Captain Wayne asked pointedly.

She rose gracefully, her eyes blazing with annoyance at discovering that the cocky young officer had indeed been the one she had been assigned to come and get. "Well, I am trying to gather a small team of four to embark on a top secret mission, although apparently I was told the wrong people. The Richard Grayson I was told about was an upstanding-"

"Pardon me, ma'am, but with all due respect, you haven't taken much time to get to know either of us," Victor pointed out.

A vein throbbed in her forehead, and he sat back down, but she did not bring the topic back up again. "The point is, Commander Stone, Lieutenant Grayson and myself will, after finding one more member for our small team, begin a mission that could be absolutely vital in preventing an outbreak of war between our fleets and the Tamaraneans."

"How so?" Captain Wayne asked, his chin in his hand.

A screen flickered to life behind her, and a picture of a young woman, about Richard's age, appeared behind her. The young woman had long red hair and dazzling green eyes.

"You may not be familiar with the royal family of Tamaran, so I'll go ahead and tell you who she is. This is Princess Kori'ander of Tamaran, and five days ago, she was reported missing. Their people blame us, as an ambassador had been staying on the planet at the time of the kidnapping. He was, of course, killed, and the Tamaraneans declared that if they did not get their princess back within two weeks, they would declare war. So, you can see how crucial this mission is," she finished, staring pointedly at Richard.

He grinned back at her, saying, "So, when do we leave?"

"Well, I was told to begin work as soon as possible, so the sooner you can gather your things, the better," she said.

Victor rose. "Well, it was nice to meet you, Commander," he said, shaking her hand.

"You can call me Raven," she said gently, a side of her that Richard hadn't as of yet seen.

"Then you can call me Cyborg, everyone else does," Cyborg grinned.

He also shook her hand. "Yeah, it was nice to meet you, Raven," he smirked.

Her eyes narrowed. "No, no, please call me Commander Raven, Lieutenant."

"Everyone calls me-"

"Meet me in the docking bay, Lieutenant. I hope that you're ready to go before we leave, because I will _not_ be coming back for you," she said abruptly. With that, she walked briskly out of the room.

Victor and Richard glanced at each other, then back at the door. "Well, this is...new," Victor finally said.

"Yeah," was all he could think to say. "It's certainly going to be an interesting day," he shrugged dismissively.

"Then you are both dismissed," Captain Wayne said. "Oh, and Lieutenant!"

Richard spun around. "Yes?"

"Don't get on her bad side. That's the best advice I can give you for this mission."


	2. 2 Ensign Logan

Ahem. I am fully aware of the Titan's true lives and their names and such (although I apologize for mispelling Koriand'r) but this is an AU, and thus I reserve the right to create new identities for each, as long as I keep up the characters. (After all, AU is an _alternate_ universe, no?)

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the story.

Chapter 2

Young Ensign Garfield Logan didn't expect to be asked on a mission or anything like that. After all, he'd only graduated from the Academy in Paris a few months ago. He considered himself lucky that he was even on a ship as advanced as this one. So he was pleasantly surprised when he was called to the captain's ready room to receive a mission briefing.

There was a young man about his age standing off to the corner, apparently sulking. He kept casting angry glances at the Azirian female that seemed to be their leader. She stood before him with a half-smile on her face that she seemed to be using to taunt that blue-eyed boy in the corner. The third member of this strange party was a half-man half-machine engineer, by the looks of his uniform.

"What's going on?" he asked, his eyes continuously darting between the girl and that sulking boy.

"Ensign Logan, we'd like you to accompany us on an important mission. You may be young, but from what we've heard about you from the Academy, you have a lot of untapped potential," the girl said, and he noted by the marks on her uniform that she was a commander. Strange that he should get glowing praise from such a superior. He also noted that the metal man was a commander, while the sulking boy was a lieutenant.

"I don't know what to say..." he finally managed to say.

For the first time, the boy with the black hair grinned broadly. "You could say 'I accept' or 'Tell me more about it' or 'Why haven't we left yet?'," he smirked. No, that smile wasn't just meant for him, Garfield determined as he noted the sneering look that passed between those two.

"I thought I told you-"

"To stay out of the conversations, yeah, yeah," he grumbled, cutting her off.

Her eyes lit up for a moment with anger, but she continued the briefing. "Ensign Logan, you're a shape-shifter, yes?" she inquired.

He nodded. "I can change into any living creature, but not a rock or anything metal," he replied.

"Thank you," she interrupted before he could continue. "Have you ever been on a mission outside of the Academy before?"

He shook his head. "Not yet. I've only been serving here for a few months, but there's always got to be a first mission, right?"

"Agreed. Well, then, I suppose we can trust you to here more about this mission. I'm sure you've studied Tamaran?"

"Yes ma'am," he said, trying to size her up to see if she would be one to tolerate his joking nature. She didn't seem to be.

"Then you know Koriand'r, the princess?" she pressed.

"I've heard of her, but I didn't spend much time studying the individual governments of the planets. I want to go into security, you see..." he trailed off at her scathing look.

"I like him already," the boy in the back laughed, and for the first time Garfield Logan noted that he was wearing the uniform of a security officer. A high-ranking security official no less! Strange that such young recruits such as these three could be so high on the chain of command. They were surely only a little older than himself!

"Then I'm tempted not to let him join the team, if you two are going to become fast friends," she shot back, to the annoyance of the boy in the corner. "The last thing I need is another cheeky security officer."

"I take it she doesn't like security officers?" he chuckled quietly.

The boy in the back shook his head vigorously. "You have no idea," he laughed, then quieted at the annoyed look the girl gave him.

"So, Koriand'r, you know of her, yes? Well, then let me tell you what the Academy wouldn't have. She's been kidnapped, and the Tamaraneans declared that unless their princess was returned, they would go to war with us," she said, getting back down to business.

"No," he muttered quietly, digesting all this information.

"The Fleet has asked us to gather a team of four young officers. Whoever kidnapped Koriand'r won't suspect such a young team to break through its forces, and we might be able to catch them off their guard. Gather your things, Ensign Logan. We'll meet you in exactly an hour. Don't be late," she said.

He turned to leave, and to his surprise, so did the boy in the back and the metal man. Only the Azirian remained behind to discuss something with the captain.

As soon as the door was shut, the blue-eyed boy started to laugh quietly. "So, kid, what did you think of Commander Raven?"

Raven. That was a fitting name for someone with her personality. "She's...interesting," he replied, trying to evade the question as much as he could in case his suspicions were right and there was a little spark between the blue-eyed guy and Raven.

The metal man chuckled. "Back off, Robin, this kid's still trying to get used to being in the environment, remember?" He stuck his hand out. "My name's Commander Stone, but you can just call me Cyborg," he said. "And this is Robin, otherwise known as Lieutenant Grayson, at least around Commander Raven," he chuckled, earning a dark look from his companion.

He grinned, taking the hand. "I'm just Ensign Logan. I haven't been around long enough to get a nickname or anything, but if you call me Garfield, I'll take your head off personally!" he declared.

The blue-eyed boy, apparently Robin, grinned at this. "Yeah, you'd make a good security officer. You've got the sense of humor for it, at least," he remarked.

He grinned back as he stepped into the elevator. The ride was a bit quiet for his tastes, as he liked to talk about anything and everything, but those two seemed perfectly content to stare at whatever it was that they found so interesting on the ceiling...

TTTTTTTT

This was going to be one of the longer missions she'd ever endured in her lifetime, Commander Raven decided as she loaded everything into the shuttle. She glanced down at the clock on the shuttle; the boys would still be in Ten Forward, that "social hub" on the ship. Well, since she had the power, why not just drop by and see what they were doing?

It took her a moment to find her center, as it had been so long since she'd actually had to access her power. Back at home, they didn't exactly praise her for her unique abilities. Sure, every Azirian had their own power, but she...she was different.

She hadn't asked to be born the illegitimate daughter of a previous tyrant. She didn't want her people to hate her. Yet for much of her life she was sheltered from the universe by her frightened mother. Her powers came from two uniquely gifted leaders; one left her with the destructive powers often attributed to royalty back home, and one had given her the gift to control things and hear things, even the emotions of others, with her mind.

Unique among the Azirians and hated among them as well, she had jumped at the oppurtunity to leave and start her own legacy, one where she wouldn't be judged simply because of her family line. She'd hidden her talents well throughout many of her years in the Academy, and even now, those who had seen her use them were oblivious to the untapped potential locked up within her.

The truth was, the powers were strange to her, like she wasn't supposed to have them. A burden instead of a gift that weighed her down from her goal. And worst of all, they seemed linked to her emotions.

She'd gotten in a fight with a classmate. It was the first time anyone had ever gotten her to use her powers outside of her home world, and she wouldn't have lost her cool if the kid had just left her alone. But he seemed determined to try to flirt with her, and even went so far as to grab her by the arm and try to keep her from leaving. Forcibly try to keep her from leaving. Before she knew it, her temper was boiling over, and the kid was on the ground, completely unconscious.

Sure, such untapped potential had helped her to rise to the position that she now held. Of course, she had started out in security, which was why she detested the officers in that field so. She'd been placed there because of her powers, not by any choice of her own. She would have liked to have gone straight to a more ambitious job, but her teachers had coaxed her into it. On one mission, she had lost control, and that had both frightened and amazed her fellow officers in the Fleet. After having worked so hard to overcome all these trials, all the prejudices often tagged on her, she was finally a Commander.

...And now she was stuck with three guys, no older than herself. The thought just made her all the more angry. She'd left to try and establish her own name, not babysit a bunch of teenage guys!

She wasn't surprised to find that the boys were sitting around, enjoying their drinks and just..talking. For a moment she felt a twang of sorrow as she wished that she had enjoyed the priveledges of a true friendship like that, but then the image of that boy that she had taken out rose up in her mind, defeating any other argument she might have had.

Richard Grayson was busy with some blonde ensign who was apparently trying to win over his heart. She could tell that he was uncomfortable, for the girl was practically jumping up at any sign of happiness he showed. It must have been hard for him not to burst out laughing when that girl tried to jump onto his lap, but missed as he scooted away and ended up on the floor.

"Seriously, Kitten, I thought you had a boyfriend," Garfield Logan laughed.

Her eyes narrowed. She was glad that this was not her ship. If that girl had been one of her officers, she would have willingly transferred, even if it meant being demoted.

"Boyfriend? Who is it? Would you go find him for me so he can come and set her straight?" Lieutenant Grayson asked, and there was no laughter in his voice at all.

"No, we broke up," Kitten said, stopping Commander Stone in his tracks.

She had to stifle a laugh as Lieutenant Grayson tugged at the neck of his uniform, trying not to be rude, but obviously wishing this girl would just leave him alone. The other boys were just content to watch his discomfort.

Finally, Ensign Logan noticed the time. "Guys! We're going to be late!" he cried out.

Her eyes widened in surprise. She'd been so wrapped up in watching Lieutenant Grayson's discomfort...well, she'd have to hurry if she was going to make it back in time so that it would look like she had been waiting impatiently for them.

Before glancing one last time at that blue-eyed lieutenant that so intrigued her, she disappeared into the floor, her center suddenly obvious as she focused on one image. Though why that particular person seemed to intrigue her so, she'd never know.


	3. 3 The Shuttle

This is probably my favorite beginning that I've ever written. hooray!

Disclaimer: still hasn't changed

Chapter 3: The Shuttle

There were two things that he just could not stand anymore. One of them was Commander Raven, and the other was the fact that he was stuck sitting in the back of the shuttle. There just wasn't anything to do.

He currently held a tiny electrical device that was supposed to display information on Tamaran. Words were running across its screen, but he was having trouble concentrating on what they were saying. An overactive green ensign seemed determined to make sure that he couldn't focus. Ensign Logan was fast on his way to earning the third spot on his short list of annoyances.

"Did you hear the one about-"

"Gar!" he interrupted, not about to subject his mind to any more damage. When he saw the hurt look on the ensign's face, though, he felt bad for snapping. He tried to soften his expression a bit. Unfortunately, when you're Lieutenant Grayson, dealing with emotions was definitely _not_ your strong suit. "Um, why don't you ask Cyborg to show you around the controls? He loves to explain that kind of thing, and it might help you later on. Besides, I'm a bit busy right now." As soon as the words spilled out of his mouth, he winced inwardly. Oh, that was not what he needed to say...

"You've been staring at that same logbook thing for hours now! Would you just smile? Just once?" Gar practically pleaded.

Gar was an appropriate nickname: Richard made that sound whenever this kid hung around. "No."

Cyborg leaned over and said something to Commander Raven, something that the Azirian obviously didn't want to hear, but she got up nonetheless. "Ensing Logan, maybe it would be a good idea for you to learn how to drive this. I'm hoping for each of us to be able to fly one," she said.

"I'm going to drive?" Gar's ear perked up much like a dog's ears back on Earth.

"Whoa, no!" Cyborg shouted. "You're not touching anything until I'm sure you know exactly what you're doing!"

Surprisingly, Commander Raven stepped out of the cockpit and closed the door, coming over to sit by Richard. For a moment, the two sat in silence while he kept his eyes on the screen of information, but she finally spoke up, "You're not as cocky and annoying as you were when we first met."

"Glad to see you noticed," he replied, crossing his arms over his chest. "If this is some sort of apology..."

She pursed her lips and for a moment, it seemed that she was fighting down a retort. "No, it's absolutely not an apology. I'm just observing my crew. And you've changed from the original image I had of you."

"And what was that image?" he asked crossly, though he had at least put the device down. He'd already seen the same information four or five times before.

"A self-centered, annoying, cocky, impolite security officer who thought that he could get away with that sort of attitude because he had made something of a name for himself," she said. Well, he supposed he had asked for that, but then again, he hadn't asked her to be so blunt about it.

"I did make a name for myself; doesn't that give me the right?" he shot back.

To his total surprise, a small smile played at the edge of her lips. He didn't know Raven could...smile. At him. "Like I said, that was just my first impression. But, Lieutenant...Richard, you've proved me wrong on a few accounts. And that's not something I'd normally admit to."

There was nothing else to do, and the information wasn't leaving his head any time soon. But it was so hard for him to have a normal conversation that wasn't an argument. He'd never been good at socializing, as he tried to focus his time on doing something _constructive_. Just sitting and talking didn't save lives. And saving lives was his job.

She took his silence to mean that he was stunned- which he was, but only a little bit- and so continued, "I don't know why you have an aversion to anything outside of your job, and I won't push you to tell me what happened. But you're extremely focused on your work, almost too much, and I'm starting to think that cocky is the only thing you can show besides 'work mode'."

'Work mode'. Had she been talking to his team before they left? They tended to tease him about how he would always prepare for hours whenever assigned a mission that allowed time. And when he was working, he tended not to talk much. That was just the way he was, and they had eventually accepted that. But accepting something didn't mean that they wouldn't stop laughing about it. "I save lives; that's serious business in case you haven't noticed," he scowled.

Her eyes narrowed a bit, though this time it wasn't in anger. "I'm just saying that I'm worried about what will happen if you try to keep it all in for that long," she said.

"Stay out of my mind, if you _please_," he muttered.

She rose slowly, something like annoyance and concern dancing in her eyes. "Alright, if that's what you want. But if it puts my team in danger, I'm going to force you to have some fun. That's right, Lieutenant, _fun._ Ever heard of it?" The concern was gone. Now she was just annoyed.

He grinned. "Could you define it?"

She rolled her eyes at him. "You're hopeless; has anyone ever told you that?"

"Nope. You're the first one. Congratulations; I'll be sure to throw a party," he smirked. Sarcasm seemed to help when he was trying to get somebody to leave.

"Fine. Have it your way. But when everything crashes down on you, don't come crying to me for help," she snarled, storming back into the cockpit and throwing a thoroughly confused Garfield out of the room.

"What did you _do _to her?" the ensign asked, still staring at the closed door with wide eyes.

He narrowed his eyes and returned to reading the information. It couldn't hurt to engrain it even deeper into his mind, could it?

"Oh, great, back to being Captain Research. This is going to be a long ride," Garfield sighed.

"It'll be even longer if you don't stop talking," he shot back.

There were two things that he couldn't stand: Garfield Logan's jokes and sitting in the back of a shuttle. There were two things that he just didn't get: emotions and Commander Raven.

She tried to concentrate on flying the shuttle, but she was too annoyed with the impudent officer sitting in the back. When she felt a hand on her shoulder, she visibly jumped. Immediately thereafter, she flushed at having been so easily surprised. "Sorry, Cyborg, I didn't expect you to..." she trailed off. Feeble excuses were definitely not her thing.

Thankfully, Victor just nodded. "It's okay. I knew that you were zoning off. I was just trying to bring you back to reality before we crashed into something," he said.

For some reason, Raven just felt comfortable around this Cyborg guy. Normally she hated to be around other people; they would try to talk to her about something that she didn't want to talk about, or else they would pelt her with questions that nobody knew the answer to. "You're forgiven," she replied.

"Anything you want to talk about?" he asked.

She shook her head. "No, I don't think so."

But he didn't accept this. A wry smile spread over his face as he chuckled, "That's okay, I think I can guess. You talked to Richard about his 'work mode', didn't you?"

"Is it that obvious?" she asked sadly. Wow, for someone who prided herself in hiding what she was feeling, she wasn't doing a very good job of hiding them from him.

"Well, only he could make you that angry and annoyed, although Gar could come close," he said, pulling a face at the mention of the green ensign. "But the way I see it, he wouldn't have gotten cocky and sarcastic while he was in that mode unless you asked him something like that."

Okay, so he couldn't read her, just his best friend. For some reason, that wasn't as much of a relief as she would have expected it to be. "Well, you're right. We did talk about it for a minute. I told him that he needed to have some fun, or he'd be a hinderance to the team when his emotional barrier ruptured."

Victor cocked his head to one side, studying her closely before saying, "You haven't known him as long as I have. He's just really focused on his work. He wants to move up, prove himself. So far he's done a pretty good job of keeping those emotions in check."

So she had found another thing she had in common with this security officer; both of them felt like they had something to prove. "I still think he needs to get out more."

Victor's low laugh echoed in the metallic ship. "I think by the time we get there, he'll be so annoyed with Gar that he'll _want_ to go somewhere just to clear his mind."

She fought back the question in her mind. After all, she hadn't gotten to know Ensign Logan as well as those two had, and so she had no reason to make assumptions. "What did he do?" she asked despite herself. Darn curiousity; it seemed to be the only emotion that she couldn't control.

Victor pulled a wry face. "The kid has no clue what to do with anything technical. If he ever learns to fly, which I highly doubt, he'll be the pilot that dies by accidentally pushing the big red button that says 'do not push'."

"That bad?" she laughed. At first she couldn't believe that she was laughing, but this guy acted like an older brother to her, and it made her feel welcome. For once, her emotions didn't seem to be causing any problems, anyway.

He nodded, also laughing. "And his jokes are horrible. At first he was a little funny with his attempts, but it just gets annoying after a while."

She smiled, glad for the distraction that Victor provided. Perhaps this wouldn't be such a long trip after all...

Suddenly, the red lights screeched their announcement of danger as the shuttle shook a little. The door swung right open as a more-than-just-concerned Richard jumped over to Victor's side. "What's going on?" he demanded.

She had to suppress a smile. Well, he was quick, that was good. "We don't even know yet," she answered.

He glared at her, then turned back to Victor, who was staring down at the radar screen. "We're not picking up any ships nearby. Do you think they could be hidden?"

Victor nodded, his face suddenly hardening into that of deep concentration as his fingers ran over the controls. "They could be, or else we must have just hit a random asteroid."

"I don't see any on the radar screen, Cy. There's got to be something there. Adjust the scanners," Richard ordered.

"What makes you think you can jump in and take over?" she asked, slightly amused at this sudden change in character.

"Didn't you ask me to help out with security? I'd say getting attacked is a matter of security," he shot back, returning to his work immediately afterwards.

As much as she hated to admit it, he was right. She hadn't done much with security in such a long time that she would have had to think about it before deciding what to do. And he was such a natural at it, with his quick reflexes and all.

Ensign Logan took the opportunity to walk in. "What's going on?" he asked, his eyes wide.

For a moment, she wondered why this kid was even on this sort of mission. He obviously didn't know what he was doing. But his potential was too great to forget. "That's what we're trying to figure out."

"I've got something!" Victor suddenly shouted, making Garfield jump.

"What is it?" Richard asked, rushing over.

"When weapons are charged up, it requires a lot of energy, right? Well, right here," he indicated a spot on the radar screen, "there was a discrepency. Enough energy for it to be some major weapons."

"Bingo," Richard muttered, and she could practically see the wheels in his mind turning.

"But if there was a discrepency, wouldn't that mean-" her input was cut off by another hit, and the power failed for a split second.

"What was that?" Richard demanded.

"They've hit our generator. We're on backup power, but I don't know how long that could last if we're going to fight them," Victor replied.

"Try contacting them. Maybe they think we're the bad guys," Garfield suggested. She grinned inwardly at this. Finally, here comes that potential she had been told about.

Cyborg nodded. "This is Shuttle 254-910. We are under fire, although we do not wish to harm anyone. Please identify yourselves and tell us why you have attacked us."

For a moment, there was silence, and the tension between all four of them seems so thick Raven could have cut it with a knife. Finally, Richard said, "They're responding."

"Verbally or visually?" she asked, glad that finally there was something she had control of.

"Both," he replied.

"Go ahead," she said, her knuckles turning white as she gripped the edge of her chair. Battles really put stress on a commanding officer.

Richard obeyed, and the screen flickered to life. Four pairs of eyes widened as they saw who their attackers were. Tamaraneans.

"I'm Captain Anj'ire of the battleship Re'venji. We told your fleet to return our princess, and now you dare to fly into our territory uninvited?"


	4. 4 Spies and Toilets

I have way too much fun writing in Tamaranean, and I love to write Raven as Commander Raven.

Disclaimer: I still haven't changed it, did you think I would?

Chapter 4

Apparently, when the heart begins beating too fast, it must also jump up into the throat.

Yet when Victor looked over at the Commander, she was sitting calmly as ever. "I'm sorry, Captain, but there must have been some sort of mistake. We are not here to cause any contention, but rather to find the Princess."

"Find her? What do you mean find her? Tri'at u'tar ve're shia'sht irts'a, bre'va!"

Victor winced. With his varied knowledge of language, he had understood each and every word. Yet Commander Raven was just as calm as before as she said, "I would appreciate it if you spoke in our own language, Captain, and please keep it civil. I'd rather not have to censor the ship's logs."

The Captain glared back at her, but spoke afterwards in English. "I demand that you leave now before we force you to leave!"

"I'm sorry, my dear Captain, but we may have some trouble getting out of Tamaranean space, as you appear to have damaged our engines. Now, either we could continue our present course or you could escort us back to a place where we could repair and be back on our way. Our engines won't let us change our course."

"We could always just blast them," one of the officers on deck said, a wry grin sneaking over his face.

"I'm sorry, I don't know your name. But thank you for your input into this conversation, it was very benificial. Especially considering that would bring a full-scale war on your armies before you could gather your troops together. I don't think you want a war on your hands unless you have a true reason, do you? Isn't that part of being a warrior? Fighting without a true cause is supposed to be dishonorable, right?" Commander Raven shot back.

The officer shrunk back, muttering, "Bre'va."

"As I believe I said before, I would appreciate keeping my logs clean, thank you. Now, Captain, as I said before, perhaps you could provide us with aid? Otherwise our damaged engines would only cause us to drift through Tamaranean space until we reach the outer edges and run out of fuel. This would probably mean that you would be blamed for the loss of this shuttle-"

The Captain sighed. "We will take you into tow and help to refuel your ships, that is it. You will repair on our outermost station as quickly as possible and then be on your way."

Commander Raven smirked. "Thank you for your hospitality, Captain. I hope you don't mind my ending the transmission, but I would like to consult my crew about possible repairs that we could make while in tow."

The Captain nodded, and the transmission ended. Victor let out the sigh of relief that he hadn't realized he had been holding, and he saw Richard visibly relax. He noted with some relief that Commander Raven had also fallen back into her chair, and that color was only now returning to her knuckles. So she had been worried; at least she was human.

"Cyborg, what all did you gather from that small meeting?" she asked.

He took a moment to think. "There was something strange about that officer, the one that wanted to blast us," he said finally.

She nodded her agreement. "I felt it too, I just wanted another to confirm it. I can't get through him very easily, just some of his emotions. And he was hiding something, that much I gathered. Ensign Logan?"

Garfield snapped up. "Yes ma'am?"

She almost rolled her eyes, but managed to keep her cool. "Did you gather anything from that?"

"Well, I did recognize one of the words the Captain said. My friend Kish'ta used to call my buddy that-"

She held up a hand, shaking her head in something like disgust. "That's okay, I'm fully aware. So, Lieutenant, what did you gather?"

Victor chuckled at the small grin that spread over Richard's face. Of course he would have noticed anything and everything he could have possibly noticed. He was Richard. He was Robin.

"I agree with the two of you; that officer definitely had something strange about him. Did you notice the way he immediately scowled when he saw us?" Richard said.

"So did the rest of the crew," Commander Raven pointed out.

"This was a different scowl. I've seen it so many times before; the one where the questioned glares at the questioner. He's hiding something. Something major. And did you notice that he immediately closed the program on the deck computer he'd been using?"

She leaned forward, suddenly very interested. "And did you happen to notice what it was?"

He nodded, smiling triumphantly. "Earth. Or, more importantly, the Himalayas."

"So, I guess we really will be going back to start our investigation," Garfield smiled, slightly relieved.

Commander Raven smiled wryly. "Not quite. I wasn't making up that bit about the engine. We really do need their help, however much we don't want it."

"So you mean we're stuck with that creepy Tamaranean guy until our engines get fixed?" Garfield nearly pouted.

Victor grinned. "You're not afraid of him, are you?"

Commander Raven interrupted, "Stop it, both of you. Now, Lieutenant, I want you to see if you can sneak around and gather some information about that officer. I want his name, his birthday, anything you can find. Cyborg, how long do you think you'll take with repairs?"

He grinned; technology was his favorite toy. "Three hours tops."

She nodded. "I'm sure I can find out all I need from that time. Ensign Logan, you serve as a lookout. Make certain no one follows myself or Lieutenant Grayson."

TTTTTT

Tamaranean security wasn't as tight as he had expected. Once he had Garfield going with those jokes of his, those guards were too annoyed to notice him sneak off. He didn't blame them, actually.

The computers hadn't been very helpful. He wasn't a true Tamaranean, and no one knew his real name. They just called him 'Red X'. And he was really close to the Princess Blackfire. That was about all he could find out, no matter how many searches he ran.

The ground vibrated slightly with each step he made. This outer stop wasn't exactly top notch, was it? He sighed. Sooner or later, he had to find out where that officer had gone.

He turned a corner to see a pair of Tamaranean guards. He had a split second to react before he would surely have been caught. Flattening himself against the wall, he hoped desperately that they hadn't seen him. He willed his breathing to slow down as he peeked around the corner. They were gone.

"What the-"

The soft sound of carefully placed footsteps alerted him to a presence behind him. He whirled around just in time to duck an oncoming punch. He blocked the next one and managed to deliver one of his own to his attacker's gut.

"They told me you were snooping around, kid, but I didn't realize you had the guts to come so close to my own personal quarters. You weren't looking for a fight, by any chance?" his attacker gasped, his voice still cocky despite oobvious pain.

It was Red X. He knew it without even seeing his face; which he didn't, as the next punch was well-aimed at his face. He responded with a left-right combo of his own, then growled, "What do you care?"

"Not much, just that I might actually get a challenge. Lieutenant Grayson, right? Also known as Robin, right? I've heard you were a good fighter, kid," Red X taunted.

Richard could finally scrutinize his oponent. He wore all black, cape and everything, and he had black hair and eyes to match. "Wish I could say the same about you. Ever thought about a computerized journal or something?" With those words, he blocked a blow and struck out with his right fist, but that was also blocked.

"Naw, kid, then people could know more about me. Isn't that the point?" Red X shot back, punctuating the remark with a blow to the gut.

He doubled over, but still avoided the oncoming blows. That was how he'd earned his nickname after all, perserverance. He was about to deliver a swift uppercut when a blast of purple energy knocked them both away from each other. Princess Blackfire landed between the two of them.

"Is there a problem, X?" she demanded.

"No, Blackfire, I was just practicing with the kid," he shot back.

"We're not at war with them just yet, and besides, I need to have a word with you," she ordered.

"Was that an order?"

She glared down at him. "Well, I am the princess, aren't I?"

Red X shrugged. "Just saying. You can always hire someone cheaper or something like you're always threatening to do..."

She rolled her eyes, then turned to Richard. "Terribly sorry for any inconvenience. He's always so ready to fight. Now might I escort you back to your ship? You must be lost."

He growled in response, but allowed her to show the way back. He could have gotten back on his own, but his instincts told him not to start any more fights. Besides, he'd meet Red X again. In fact, he was sure of it.

TTTTTT

It was the second time within twenty-four hours that she had tried to access her powers, and she was finally becoming more accustomed to it. She eased into it and allowed herself to become part of the energy keeping her embedded in the wall.

Oh, yes, she'd seen Lieutenant Grayson fighting that character. What had she called him? X? She would have to get back to Lieutenant Grayson on the details of his opponent. He would notice important details that she wouldn't have, as hard as that was for her to admit.

What's more, though, is that she had actually followed this X character to the princess' quarters. He sat comfortably in a chair until she got back. Involuntarily, Commander Raven shuddered. This room had too much black in it, even for her tastes. She felt that a room should have at least one light other than a few flourescant lights along the bottom.

Blackfire walked in and carefully closed the door behind her. She strolled right over to a large black chair and sat facing this X character. Her eyes narrowed and she nearly shouted, "What were you thinking?"

This was certainly a character change from the well-composed princess Raven had just seen lead Lieutenant Grayson away...now why did that memory bring up jealousy in her mind? She shrugged it off to listen in.

"I was thinking that the kid was doing too much snooping. I checked the files on the computer. He did a pretty fair job of covering his tracks, but there was still a faint trace. He was trying to find out more about me. You can't blame me for wanting my privacy," the guy shrugged.

"But I can blame you for trying to start a war before we're ready. If they find my sister before the two weeks is up, the war is off, and nobody will be the wiser!"

"I seriously doubt that they'll-"

"Don't count them out yet, X. You need to learn to keep considering the worst. I want you to keep an eye on them until their visit is over. A close eye, X, and no slip-ups."

He glared at her with those amazingly deep black eyes. "Are you trying to tell me what to do?"

"Who's paying you?" she shot back.

"To do what? I wasn't aware that I was suppoed to be fighting your wars for you, just helping it along," he shot back, and the two glared at each other in a long silence. Raven wished they would move. She really did. Her hold was slipping.

As if something had read her mind, a voice blared, echoing in the room: "Blackfire, the engineer on that shuttle says that he's almost ready. Would you like to come down and see them off?"

Raven sighed in relief, letting herself fall to the ground the moment the doors were closed. Her breathing was shallow; she really needed to get more practice accessing these weird powers of hers. Taking a deep breath, she tried once more to get to the room where the others would be.

...Well, it almost worked. Once the black shield had disappeared, she found herself in the shuttle, alright, but she had somehow ended up in the bathroom. Thankfully, no one else was around, but it was still awkward to find yourself standing in the toilet.

"This is just perfect," she muttered, gingerly peeling off her shoes. Just one turn after another, wasn't it?


	5. 5 Squish

So, I had the first line stuck in my head for a while, and then I built on it.

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the story.

Chapter 5:Squish

Squish, squish, squish.

Richard grinned; whatever advantage Commander Raven used to have in sneaking up on people when they least expected it had been lost ever since she had come out of the bathroom. Oh yes, he had seen her walk out of the bathroom without ever going into it; what else was he supposed to do? He had been sitting in the back of the shuttle, after all. Maybe that did have its advantages.

Then, suddenly, the squishing sound stopped. But Commander Raven still came towards him. Strangely, her cloak was draped over the front of her now, hiding her shoes. Not that he didn't blame her; he supposed that her shoes must have been soaked, for whatever reason that bathroom incident had occured, but how the squishing sound had suddenly halted at the same time the cloak came over her front... Maybe he was just being paranoid, but he could have sworn...

"Something bothering you, Lieutenant?" Commander Raven smirked.

He narrowed his eyes, then broke out into a broad grin. _I know something you don't know I know._ "No ma'am, I'm perfectly fine. When are we taking this tin can out into the stars?"

"As soon as I drag this beast back into the shuttle!" Victor shouted.

"Well, that's something you don't get to see every day," Richard chuckled as he saw Victor struggling to drag a large green dog into the ship. Apparently, the dog was more than entertained with something quite similar to a fire hydrant...and that explained why the bathroom was empty when Commander Raven had her 'accident'.

A thoroughly annoyed Victor came crashing through the door, an overly excited green dog rushing right past him into the bathroom. Victor jumped right back up, his face bright red. "Get back out here, Beast Boy! You have the manners of a grishk!" he shouted, pounding on the door.

"A grishk? Don't you think that's a bit harsh, Victor?" Richard laughed. A grishk was the most ill-mannered being in the galaxy, and these creatures even considered being rude to be polite! "He couldn't have possibly been that annoying!"

"Want to bet?" Victor growled, motioning to his foot. "Beast Boy here couldn't handle the food the Tamaraneans gave him, and now..."

Richard had to stifle a hearty laugh. Victor's foot glistened with... "I'm sure he didn't mean anything by it," he offered, though there was no mistaking the laughter in his voice.

"That's what you think. Get out of there right now, Garfield!" Victor shouted.

"Don't call me that!" came the reply from inside the bathroom.

"I'll call you whatever I want. Get out here so I can throttle you!"

Commander Raven put a hand on Victor's shoulder, a frown evident on her face. "Let it go, I'll be sure he gets it later. Maybe I'll make Lieutenant Grayson teach him the history of Tamaran," she said, a small smile creeping around the corners of her mouth as she mentioned Richard.

And don't think he didn't notice it. "Yeah, it's not good to disturb people when they're in the bathroom, is it Raven?"

Her eyes flashed dangerously as she whirled around to glare at him, but he made sure that his face betrayed nothing. He'd mastered the art of hiding information from others, why should he be intimidated by her? "So," he continued, talking to Victor as if nothing had happened, "you came up with a nickname already?"

"With manners like that, the only name that suits him is 'beast'," Victor growled pointedly at the door.

"Whatever, it's better than Garfield!" the small ensign croaked from behind the door.

"You're going to be Garfield for the rest of this mission in a minute!" Victor growled.

Alright, time for him to interfere. "Hey, Cy, let it go, alright?" Hopefully, shortening the nickname would do something to calm him down. At the very least, Victor had given him a good laugh, and how he had needed that!

Thought Victor still glared at the door, he sighed. "Fine. Let's get moving, then."

When the door slammed shut, Richard noted with some amusement that 'Beast Boy' stuck his head out of the door to check and see if the metal man was still around. Then the door closed again, and he was left alone with Commander Raven. Which probably wasn't a good thing.

With barely concealed anger, Commander Raven asked, "What all did you find out?"

"Well, that guy on the Tamaranean ship is Red X, and he's a close favorite of Princess Blackfire, but I can't even find a note about his rank or anything besides that that could possibly help us. Although I do know that he's a good fighter," he reported.

"Well, he's definitely in league with Blackfire, and they're not up to anything good, you can bet that much. I wouldn't be surprised if she orchestrated the whole thing. Her room is incredibly dark, even for my tastes."

"So you went spying too?" he teased.

"Yes," she snapped. "What else do you know?"

"That Garfield Logan's jokes are a very good distraction for Tamaranean guards."

"And?"

He grinned, knowing exactly what she was getting at. "Princess Blackfire likes to escort handsome spies back to their ships."

"No, I mean..." she trailed off, glaring at him. "You'd better go deflate that head of yours, Lieutenant, before I'm forced to deflate it for you."

"In all truth, Raven, more people than just you have tried before, and here I am, same as ever. It's going to take more than just an uppity commander to change me," he smirked.

Her eyes seemed to glow with anger. No...wait, were they really glowing? "You," she shouted, "are the most insufferable, self-centered-"

"Um, what's going on?" Ensign Logan squeaked from behind Commander Raven.

Commander Raven's demeanor instantly changed back into her normal, snippety one from her explosive anger. "We're just having a small argument about whether or not Lieutenant Grayson has an ego big enough to stretch across the Neftanoc Galaxy," she snapped.

"And whether or not Commander Raven has a problem with the facilities in this shuttle."

She looked as if she could explode on him, and a vein throbbed in her forehead as she struggled to regain control. Finally, she sighed, "I'm going to go back to piloting my ship. And if either of you tries to disturb me without good reason, you'll pay extreme consequences!"

The cloak billowed out behind her as she stormed out, but the ferocity of her threat was undermined by the small "squish squish squish" of her boots as she walked.

Her eyes blazed as she sat down in her chair. "The nerve of some people!"

"Beast Boy get to you too?" Victor chuckled beside her.

"No, it's that annoying Lieutenant Grayson!" she sighed.

"Didn't you try talking to him like I suggested?"

She shook her head. "That didn't work. The guy has an ego the size of-"

"The Naftanoc Galaxy, I heard. You two were going at it pretty hard, huh? And what was Robin talking about when he mentioned an aversion to bathrooms or something?"

Her cheeks flushed pink and she crossed her arms angrily. "I don't want to talk about it," she said pointedly.

"Then I won't push it. But I do have a suggestion," Victor said.

"What's that?" she asked. She had come to respect Victor in the short time she had known him, and also to respect his advice.

"Don't call him Lieutenant Grayson. Use his first name some time and see how he'll change. I guarantee the first thing he'll do is jump in surprise that you're not being indifferent towards him."

"He's the one who-"

"He's not the one who can change. You've got to accept that Robin's just like that, alright? Maybe he'll even let you start calling him Robin every once in a while. You could be good friends if you really tried; you're just both too stubborn to admit it."

For a moment, she just glared at nothing in particular. Then, "So, why do you call him Robin?"

"Pardon?" Obviously, Victor had not been expecting her to ask about anything pertaining to Richard Grayson unless it was negative.

"Well, it's obvious how you got your nickname, and Beast Boy just got his, so I know how that happened. But I can't imagine why you would call someone so rude a bird!" she explained.

"Actually, it was because he was being obsessive about his work that he got the nickname," Victor chuckled.

"Now why doesn't that surprise me?"

"Do you want to know the story or not?"

"I'm sorry, I'll keep the sarcastic comments down to a minimum from now on, okay?" she snapped back.

Victor sighed in annoyance, but continued on anyway. "We were fighting this guy. None of us knew who he was, just that he was a big threat. The media dubbed the guy 'Slade', and let's just say Robin got even more obsessive than usual about that one. We managed to destroy Slade's stash of a biochemical weapon he was going to sell to some traitors on the other side of the Grinjost Nebula, but Robin showed up with his team."

"And they fought. Is this why he's never smiling?" she sighed.

"Give him a break, Raven, you don't smile much either. But the point is, even after he took a major hit from Slade, he kept going, and his uniform was bright red. When we watched the tape, we joked that he looked like a Robin, and when we paused it at different angles, he kinda did. He didn't take too kindly to the nickname at first, since he was still mad about Slade getting away, but he eventually got used to it."

"And Slade?" she asked.

Victor shook his head. "We haven't heard from him since, but sometimes Robin will shut himself up in his quarters for days at a time whenever he gets a possible lead to the guy's whereabouts. It's kind of insane, really."

"I can imagine."

Victor looked right at her before saying, "I don't know what happened to make Robin so mad at Slade, but I wouldn't suggest bringing it up. At all. Got it? None of what I just said leaves this room, okay?"

She raised an eyebrow, a bit weary of making promises that she wasn't sure she could keep, but she nodded nonetheless. "Alright."


	6. 6 Spelunking

hehe. I've been having too much fun with this particular fic.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 6

Lieutenant Richard Grayson was boring.

Garfield Logan shifted slightly in his seat, trying to get comfortable. How he wished that he could have just stuck it out fighting Cyborg! But, no, Commander Raven felt that a long- two hour long- briefing would be a more fitting punishment. She was right.

While Commander Raven and Cyborg sat up front, chuckling at his obvious unease, Lieutenant Grayson continued his lecture on Tamaranean culture. Something about how warriors got promoted. Surely after the first ten minutes a normal person could have run out of things to say. Robin was no longer a fitting nickname. How about Lieutenant Research? Or El Aburridisimo? The Boy Bore?

"Ensign, have you even been listening to a word I said?"

He snapped back to reality. A very angry face came very close to his own, startling him so that he nearly toppled over. "Wa!" he screeched, his arms doing whatever they wanted as his brain went on vacation out of surprise.

"That's what I thought," Richard smirked. "Well, Ensign, if you're so sure you know everything, why don't you tell me all about Tamaran?"

He returned the smirk with one of his own and jumped up. "Tamaran, home of Princess Koriand'r, has its own complex system of honor," he said, his voice a monotone as he slouched forward and let his eyes go out of focus. "So complex, in fact, that I could talk about the planet and its customs and anything else about it I want to for two full hours on end."

Cyborg laughed out loud, and he even managed to coax a slight chuckle from Commander Raven. Immediately, he grinned broadly. "Yes! I got Commander Raven to laugh!"

But he regretted saying it. Her face immediately darkened, and his hopes of gaining her admiration fluttered out the window. Again. Her voice that same whisper that could command such attention, she said, "Don't get too used to it, Ensign. We still have a job to do."

"Speaking of which, how long until we reach the Himalayas?" Lietutenant Grayson asked.

If Garfield Logan was the only person who could make Commander Raven laugh, Richard Grayson was the only one who could make her angry. Still, she managed a small smile. "Always getting down to business, aren't we, Lieutenant?"

"That's my job. Are you going to answer the question or not?"

Ensign Logan smiled. This time, the teasing was not evident in their voices, at least to those who didn't know better. The two of them had tried to hold back on fighting since Commander Raven's ...explosion, and they had done a pretty fair job of it, too.

Commander Raven sighed. "We should be entering the atmosphere in half an hour."

Garfield Logan jumped up onto his bunk and laid his head in his arms. "Great! Just enough time for an afternoon nap!"

Commander Raven looked as if she were about to argue, but, miraculously, didn't. Maybe she was trying to control herself after that last burst of anger. Who wouldn't? That was one of the scarier things Ensign Logan had seen, and he thought for sure that those eyes had been glowing.

TTTTTTTT

The wind swirled around the shuttle, carrying tiny snowflakes past the windows and into the mountain tops as they watched from the safe interior. With nothing else to do, Richard decided, for once, to just enjoy the scenery. Although, of course, he did do a periodic sweep of the horizon. Just in case.

Something had changed in Commander Raven. Something in the way she looked at him. As if she knew something... something that no one else would know. As if she suddenly understood a whole lot more of him than he wanted her to.

"You're awfully quiet, Robin," Victor teased, breaking the silence in the cockpit. Yes, Commander Raven had let him in the cockpit, but this only gave him more reason to be suspicious.

"Okay, so you caught me enjoying the scenery," he chuckled, actually glad for the reprieve from his thoughts. Suspicions only heightened his already overactive nerves.

"You won't be enjoying it for very long," Commander Raven sighed, "since we're about to go out there."

He shuddered instinctively, already picturing himself out in the middle of that snowstorm. It didn't sound fun, but he had never shirked from a challenge before. But he would not put himself in danger unneccessarily. Pointing to a spot on the map, he said, "This area looks like it's more sheltered than the surrounding regions. Take her down here, Cy."

Victor nodded, easing forward on the controls. "Careful!" Commander Raven whispered tersely as the shuttle rocked a bit.

Victor's eyes narrowed. "This is harder than it looks, Raven. We've got some major resistance here."

Richard leaned back against the wall, a small smile playing on his lips. "Amazing, isn't it, that we can explore entirely new galaxies and yet confront these types of problems on our own home world?"

"I'm glad you're entertained, Robin, but this really is difficult," Victor growled. As if to punctuate that statement, the ship rocked slightly to the right, ramming them into the side of a mountain.

"We're almost there, Cyborg, just keep her steady for a little while longer," Commander Raven said, and Richard couldn't help but notice that all color had drained from her face.

A bright green Ensign Logan stumbled into the cockpit. Greener than normal; that couldn't be good. "What's going on?" he groaned, clutching his stomach.

"We ran into some turbulance; no worries," Richard assured him even as they rocked again.

"I can't keep us in the air much longer," Victor reported, his hands flying across the controls as fast as he could manage. "We're going to have to land, and soon."

"Give it to me straight," Commander Raven sighed. "Do you have any idea where we are anymore?"

"Not really; the sensors sustained heavy damage when we rammed into the mountain," Victor admitted.

"Then there's really no point in struggling to stay up. Take us down the first chance you get, and preferrably somewhere with a cave."

Victor nodded, and the shuttle began its descent. Suddenly, a sharp jolt knocked Richard off his feet. "What was that?" he shouted, gripping the back of Victor's chair to help him get back up.

"I don't know; it looks like someone fired at us," Victor replied, his expression grim.

"Someone really doesn't want us here," Commander Raven remarked.

Richard scanned the horizon for some form of shelter, but everything was white... "There!" he shouted, indicating a small patch of color in the blanket of snow. "It's a cave."

"Anything's better than getting shot at and bounced around," Ensign Logan groaned.

"Agreed. Cyborg, land there, and quickly, please," Commander Raven ordered.

"Can do," Victor replied.

Another jolt sent Ensign Logan sprawling, though Richard had been gripping Victor's seat and managed to stay on his feet. Victor and Commander Raven both jerked forward, and sparks danced across the control panels. The alarms went off, and the shuttle dropped.

"What's happening?" Commander Raven gasped. "I can't get any readings!"

"Neither can I!" Victor shouted even as the shuttle plowed into the ground. Ensign Logan slid across the floor and into Richard, knocking them both into the wall. Commander Raven was showered with sparks, and Victor had to shield himself as well. Finally, the shuttle came to a stop.

After a moment of silence, Richard snapped out of his momentary stupor and pushed Ensign Logan off of him. "That was a little more excitement than I bargained for."

Victor nodded. "Alright, we'd better get out of here and try to find that cave before whoever was shooting at us finds us."

Ensign Logan pressed the button to open the doors, but nothing happened. "We're snowed in," he said, his eyes wide.

Victor shook his head, saying, "No, we're not." With that, he rushed forward with a growl and slammed into the door. It fell off of its hinges, letting gusts of cold air in. He grinned, "Being a cyborg has its advantages."

As the security officer, Richard went first. The cold wind stung his cheeks, but he kept his eyes on the horizon, scanning for any sign of movement. Only after he was absolutely certain did he call for the others to come.

"It's cold!" Ensign Logan said the moment he stepped outside.

"Aren't you a shape-shifter?" Commander Raven pointed out.

Shooting her an angry look, he said, "I was just saying!" Nevertheless, he transformed into a polar bear- a green polar bear.

"So where's the cave?" Victor asked.

Richard grinned; he had been sure to take note of their position relative to the cave's. "If we head this way, we should find it within a half hour," he said, pointing uphill.

"Well, lead the way, Lieutenant," Commander Raven said.

TTTTTTTT

The cave was not very warm, but it still provided some shelter from the storm. The storm showed no signs of letting up any time soon, so the four of them decided to make camp for the night. Thankfully, Commander Raven had thought to grab the emergency packs before they left.

As Ensign Logan struggled to start a fire, Richard stood over near the front of the cave, staring off into the white abyss. Commander Raven entertained the idea of bringing him back to reality, but decided against it. She didn't want to lose control again, so she instead started unrolling the sleeping bags.

It turned out that she didn't have to anyway. Victor walked up to the young lieutenant and clapped him on the shoulder. "A penny for your thoughts," he said.

"Cyborg," Richard sighed, "someone was just shooting at us. Obviously there's something here that we're not meant to find out about."

"And you can't turn down a mystery, can you? Let it rest, Robin, okay? We'll start working again tomorrow."

"I don't know, Cy, I've just got this gut feeling that we're closer to a breakthrough than we know."

Commander Raven sighed, then got up. "Am I interrupting anything?" she asked politely as she walked up to the two boys.

"No, not at all, Raven. What do you need?" Victor smiled.

"Actually, I'd like to talk to Lieutenant Grayson, if you don't mind," she said.

"Certainly," the big man chuckled, then walked away.

She decided to get right down to business. "I've been having that same feeling, like we're sitting on the evidence but just can't see it yet," she said.

Richard nodded. "Thank you. I thought I was just being paranoid at first, but now that someone else has confirmed it..." he trailed off, deep in thought. Suddenly, he got up. "Cy!" he called.

"Yeah?" Victor called back.

"How far back does this cave go?"

"Not sure, why?"

Richard grinned. "No reason, just curious!" He turned to her, excitement dancing in his blue eyes. "Tell me, Commander, have you ever been spelunking?"


	7. 7 Revelations

I'm FINALLY BACK! hehe.

Disclaimer: I own zilch. Less than zilch.

Chapter 7

"I think we're lost," Richard admitted finally.

Commander Raven sighed, "Looks like it."

Both officers slumped to the ground, heaving a simultaneous sigh. A long silence prevailed between the two of them, though both were bursting with questions. Richard looked over at Raven for a moment before asking, "So, what made you decide to take on this mission?"

She shrugged, "I'm not sure. I guess I just wanted to take on the challenge, prove to myself that I am capable to seeing a mission through to the end."

"You mean you've never actually finished a mission?"

"Oh, when I was in security I followed them through, no worries there. But it seems like every time I get close to commanding a mission, something... happens," she said, averting her gaze.

"Something like winding up in a shuttle bathroom without ever having gone in it?"

She nodded silently. "How did you find out about that, anyway?"

"Princess Blackfire sent me back, although I'm pretty sure you already knew that. I was sitting in the back of the shuttle, but I hid when I heard you in there. I thought you were a Tamaranean, seeing as no one had come in yet, so I decided to do some spying," he chuckled, then asked slowly, "So, what else can you do?"

"What do you mean?" she asked, though she already had a good idea.

"Don't play dumb with me. You never walked into the shuttle; I know. What else can you do besides randomly appear?"

"Truthfully, I really don't know. I try not to access my powers," she admitted. "And what about you?" When he hesitated, she said, "Come on, I shared, now it's your turn."

"Why don't you tell me? I've got a funny feeling you know a lot more than you let on," he said.

She shook her head. "Let's start with why you're closed up and obsessive with your work, shall we?"

His eyes widened, and something in the back of his mind clicked. "What did Cyborg tell you, Raven? And don't deny that he ever told you anything! What did he tell you?"

"He just told me why they call you Robin and that you aquired your obsessive nature from that mission."

"You're a bad liar," he growled. "He told you about Slade, didn't he?"

Suddenly, Commander Raven felt a lot smaller under the glare of those fiery blue eyes. "Slade who?"

He grunted in annoyance, running his fingers through his hair as he paced angrily back and forth. "I know Cyborg told you, because I can tell you're lying when you say you don't know who he is. So I might as well tell you what really happened. Do you want to know why I got so obsessed with catching him? Because he threatened everything I held dear; all my friends and crewmates were at his control and they didn't even know it! Even Cyborg could have died if I made a wrong move!"

"How?" she asked quietly.

"How?" he repeated angrily. "How?" he whispered, his voice losing some of the ferocity it once held. "The whole area they were searching was rigged to go up in smoke at any given moment. If I hadn't found a way to beat the system when I did..." He sighed heavily, then continued, "Well, let's just say that I might not have been on the right side of the law."

"So he tried to blackmail you into helping him?"

"No, not tried to. Succeeded. I passed on more than just a few secrets, some of which have yet to be discovered," he admitted, his voice heavy with guilt. At least he had calmed down enough not to continue yelling.

After a long moment of silence, Commander Raven ventured, "So, do you think we should try to continue on or turn back for help?"

"It really doesn't matter," he said, taking the opportunity to change the subject and running with it. "Either way we chose, we'll still end up lost. It looks like our only choice is to continue exploring. With any luck, we'll find a back entrance, or maybe we'll find our way back to the camp."

"Lead the way," she said, smiling slightly. She had gotten Richard to open up; that was the first step. And hopefully, she could help him to get over this obsession, or at least come to terms with what he had done.

"What do you mean you can't find them?" Princess Blackfire screeched, pounding the table.

"Their shuttle went down right in the middle of a snowstorm, Your Highness. There is no way our sensors could track them with all the disturbances such a storm creates," muttered Captain Anj'ir.

"Then go look for them! You're Tamaranean, aren't you? Or are you afraid to go out in a simple storm unequivalent to the ones on our home world?"

"No, m'lady, I am not afraid, but not all of our officers are Tamaranean, as you well know. You yourself commissioned my second officer, if you recall," he stuttered.

"I'm well aware," she interrupted briskly. "If not all of your officers can survive, simply gather a team of your strongest and work from there! I didn't ask you if your entire crew could come with you; I only asked if you would shoot down the investigative team. Do you realize what will happen if they find that cave?"

"Yes, m'lady. I am well aware as well, and I only wished-"

"Please, Captain, you're dismissed. Just get started on the search party already. If you're lucky, all you'll find will be frozen bodies."

"Long day?" asked a voice behind her the moment the doors had closed behind the captain.

She didn't turn; she already knew who it was. "You have no idea," she replied, rubbing her temples. "I'm surrounded by idiots."

"I know the feeling. Tell me, if working with Captin Anj'ir is so hard on you, why don't you just let me take command of the flag ship? I'm sure your orders would be better served that way."

"I can't tell you how much I'd love to, but you know I can't," she sighed. "Most of our fleet would be unwilling to follow someone with no Tamaranean heritage. It would be like asking a Gordanian to pilot the flagship of the humans' fleet; it just isn't done. My apologies, X, but you are still human."

"I could arrange an accident," Red X offered, his pointed lips curving into a wry grin. "After all, who would object to the second officer rising to the task if the captain and first officer were killed in battle?"

"X..." she growled, signalling the end of the conversation.

"Alright," he sighed in response, preparing to head for the door.

"You know as well as I do that Captain Anj'ir is one of our greatest captains, and to throw away that talent would be pointless. Although his mental capacities are obviously not quite up to his prowess in the fleet, are they?" she chuckled.

"If you don't mind my being blunt..."

"X, you're always blunt. Go ahead," she chuckled.

"Alright. Here it is: I don't see how you can hold him in any kind of respect. Even when we were dealing with that Azirian commander, he was being an idiot."

"I told you, he comes very highly reco...Did you say Azirian commander?"

"Yes, and a very haughty one, too," he growled. "Why?"

"Have you heard the rumors, X, that some of the Azirians possess abnormal abilities?" she asked, suddenly very delighted with her discovery.

"Well, yes, but they're just rumors. Why?" he asked, obviously annoyed at not being able to follow her line of thought.

"When I returned to my room after that commander's ship left, I found a slight abnormality in the tiles on my ceiling. A very small abnormality, on a microscopic scale. If I hadn't been doing rounds, I wouldn't have found it in the first place."

"What are you saying, that the Azirian was somehow in your room while we were?"

"I know it sounds crazy, but don't discount the possibility. In the meantime, found out everything you can about that commander, and most especially her crew," she ordered.

It seemed that Red X was about to respond with a usual snide comment, but a loud, blaring siren interrupted whatever it was he had been about to say. "Someone's set off the motion detectors in the cave!" he shouted, rushing to the consoles.

"Contact Captain Anj'ir and give him the coordinates of the alert. He may not have to risk his neck after all," she ordered smugly.

"Wait, stop," Richard said, sticking his arm out in front of her to make sure she did.

"What is it?" she asked, somewhat annoyed that he had stopped, but it was the first thing he had said since they set off exploring, so she dismissed it.

"Hold on," he muttered, bending down to examine the ground. He inched forward on his knees, examining every rock on the way.

"You don't think you could tell me what's going on, do you?"

"Hold _on_," he repeated, suddenly very interested in some new rock.

She crossed her arms, not used to receiving orders, especially from someone who had just exploded on her. But she pushed such thoughts down; he would have a reason, of course, and no doubt a very good reason.

"Found it," he said, brushing aside some dirt. "Have a look."

She bent down to the ground. "I don't see anything," she admitted.

He sighed, then carefully brushed more dirt off to reveal a blinking light. "Right here," he said, patiently directing her attention to the small device.

Her eyes widened. "What is it?"

"Motion detector, and by the looks of it, we just set it off," he replied, his eyes never leaving the blinking light. "Hold on..."

His anxietry increased; she could feel every bit of his being tensing. "What is it?" she asked despite himself.

Carefully, he unplugged the device and began to roll it over and over in his hands. His brow furrowed, and he bit his lip. "If I'm right, this isn't Tamaranean technology."

"What about that guy you were fighting...um..X?"

"No, he uses xinothium, that's how he snuck up on me."

"So, whose is it?"

He paused a moment before answering, "It's definitely human technology. And very advanced."

She crossed her arms. "You're not telling me everything, Lieutenant."

"I'm sorry for keeping my personal thoughts to myself, _Commander_," he snapped back.

Suddenly, Raven was reminded of Cyborg's warning not to call Richard by his rank. "Please," she said, "if we're going to work together, you should tell me everything, even if they're just wild guesses, okay Richard?"

Just as Cyborg had predicted, Richard nearly jumped at his name. But it did have some effect on him, and he sighed, "Alright, but you're going to think I'm crazy."

"Try me," she replied, her eyes dancing.

He took a deep breath before saying, "This technology is really familiar. I think I've seen the blueprints for it back when I was snooping around for Slade. In fact, this may be one of the schematics I stole for him."


	8. 8Booyah

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 8: Boo-yah

"'Aren't you a shapeshifter?' Gah! Well aren't you smart? When did you figure that out? Of course I am, but that doesn't mean I can't be cold!"

Beast Boy was shivering uncontrollably. No matter what animal he changed into, he just couldn't manage to stay warm. He couldn't even sleep, so he had resolved to stay up all night and find something contstructive to do. Like making breakfast.

He was halfway through building a fire when he heard the soft shuffle of footsteps in the snow nearby. With a sharp gasp, he quickly extinguished the fire and rushed to wake Cyborg up.

"Dude! Dude, get up! Someone's here, and I don't think they're the good guys!" he whispered, urgently shaking his friend's shoulders.

"Beast Boy...ungh...if you're trying to tell me another joke..." Cyborg moaned, turning over and covering his ears with the pillow.

Resisting the urge to growl in annoyance, he muttered, "I hate to do this to you, buddy, but..." With that, he morphed into a tiny wasp and, taking precise aim, stung Cyborg on the wrist right at the division where flesh met metal.

Sure enough, Cyborg jolted awake, shouting, "What was that-"

Wincing, Beast Boy rushed to cover Cyborg's mouth. "Someone's here, Cyborg. We've got to get moving."

For a moment, Cyborg stared at him in silence, his eyebrows raised in an obvious display of disbelief, but the crunching sound of footsteps broke the tension in the air. The sounds brought Cyborg back to reality with a jolt, and both boys grabbed the nearest bag of provisions before taking off into the depths of the cave. After they had been running for a few minutes, they stopped behind two stalagmites to catch their breath.

"Where's Robin and Raven?" Beast Boy asked between gasps.

"I don't know. Robin asked me about the cave earlier; do you think they went exploring?"

"No time to find out now. Let's just hope they're safe," he replied as more footsteps echoed behind them.

"It's not them I'm worried about," Cyborg chuckled.

"Really? How so?" he asked, though he thought he knew what was coming next anyway.

"I'm worried about whoever they run in to. I don't care who they are; they're in for a nasty surprise if they get on their bad sides."

TTTTTT

"So, what do we make of it?" Raven asked, crouching down beside Richard.

"That's the problem. This could have been stolen from our technicians, or Slade could be behind it. To tell you the truth, I really, _really_ prefer the first alternative," he replied, getting up to leave.

"And if Slade is behind this?" she pressed, though she felt like she probably didn't want to know the answer.

"If Slade is behind this, then there is probably a lot more at stake here than just a war between Tamaran and us," he replied cooly, extending a hand to help her to her feet.

She took the hand, surprised by his gentle grip. She had expected him to have a firm hold, but there was a different side to Richard Grayson, apparently. She would like to try to see more of this side once the mission was complete. Then her thoughts drifted back to his words. "More than just a war?" she repeated, a bit unnerved. "What more does he need to hurt us?"

"He'll think of something, I'm sure," Richard replied darkly, scanning the areas ahead with his flashlight.

She raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms. "You know, I've never felt this much hatred from anyone directed at one single person," she mused as she took out her own light.

"Yeah, well, Slade's just bad, alright?" he growled, motioning her to the left.

"No, that's not what I meant. All that anger is directed," she said, "towards yourself. Why?"

He blew out his breath in frustration, then quickened his pace. For about five minutes, they continued in this fashion, neither making any attempt at further conversation. Finally, they reached a dead end. As Richard eyed the rocks that made this dead end, Raven decided to try to learn more about what made this striking lieutenant tick.

"You know, you're going to have to talk to me sooner or later," she sighed, sitting down on a rock and crossing her legs. She leaned against the wall of the cavern and watched as he examined every inch of the rocks that created this dead end.

"Something you're going to have to learn, Raven, is that I don't open up to too many people," he sighed, his hands pausing over a crack in the rock. He peered closer, then began to run his fingers over the surrounding area.

"I can see that. I doubt even Cyborg knows what you just told me, does he?" she said, leaning slightly to the left to get a better look at what he was doing.

He sighed, but did not answer, instead reaching into his pocket to pull out some type of scanner. His eyes narrowed, and he backed up to get a better reading. Something about the data seemed to be bothering him, and he took this problem and immersed himself in it to avoid her questions. He bit his lip, then tucked his tongue back in his mouth as he shoved the device back into his pocket, muttering something to himself under his breath.

Raven didn't like the fact that she was no longer in control, so she asked, "What exactly are you doing?"

He grinned, so comfortable in this environment, his role as the leader in a mission. Because he was, in reality, leading her. She had no idea what he was doing, and it almost scared her that she had to place all of her trust in him. Almost.

"I'm reading some high levels of higridilium gas in this wall that wasn't evident anywhere else," he replied, his eyes still searching the wall. "And that's not a natural gas either. It has to be leaking from somewhere, somewhere that's using a whole lot of energy."

"From what I know of higridilium, it doesn't have many uses in its gaseous form," she mused.

He nodded. "It's mostly used in speeding up the process of molding metal, most especially to mold the durasteel doors in prisons. It can also knock most people out if they breathe in enough of it. Lucky for us, there isn't enough of it to do much damage for at least fifteen more minutes, and even then it would just be minor dizziness," he said quietly as he motioned her over to where he was standing.

"Sounds like we've found a holding center of some sort," she muttered, then raised an eyebrow. "What's that look for?"

His grin had died away to a solemn expression as his eyes bored into her own. He hesitated for a moment, then said, "I think there's a door of some kind hidden here, but I can't seem to find the doorknob. I don't know how, but you can randomly appear places, right? Think you can get on the other side of this wall and open it from the inside?" When she paused, he quickly added, "I'm sure it's safe, but if not, I can keep searching. We might find it anyway without any extra help, I'm sure."

Her heart race quickened, but she made sure she did not outwardly show her worry. But he knew; she could tell, and she quickly pulled her hood up to hide her flushing cheeks. She hadn't put the hood up in so long that it felt weird, but then, so did the burning on her cheeks. She couldn't even remember the last time she had blushed, the last time she had been embarassed by something she couldn't do. So why now? Why did she suddenly hesitate to admit weakness to Richard Grayson?

TTTTTT

"Halt!"

Had they not reached a dead end, the two boys would have continued running. "Aw man," Cyborg muttered as he turned to face their pursuers. So far, all he could tell was that there were six shadows with guns in front of them. Of course, that was bad in and of itself; the packs they had with them had no weapons. If they had thought to grab the other packs, it would have helped.

"Who are you guys?" Beast Boy gasped, out of breath from running.

The shadows didn't answer, though one of them stepped forward into the light. Cyborg immediately recognized him as Captain Anj'ir, the Tamaranean who had stopped them and damaged their shuttle. "Captain! What are you doing out of Tamaranean space?" he asked.

"What are you doing back here in the middle of a snowstorm when you said you were only looking for Koriand'r? We could exchange questions for some time, but I am afraid we just do not have the time," the captain smirked, raising his weapon.

"Cyborg, I think we can fight our way out of this," Beast Boy whispered, a slow grin spreading over his face.

"What are you talking about? We don't have any weapons, nothing in those packs can give us an advantage!"

"I'm a changeling."

"So now you remember?" he chuckled.

"Gah! Why is everybody on my case?" Beast Boy complained.

"Sorry. So you have a plan?" Somehow, those words were weird when spoken to Ensign Logan.

"Yes, actually, I do. Don't act so surprised; I can do more than tell jokes!" With that, Beast Boy morphed into a gorilla and slammed into Captain Anj'ir, knocking the weapon out of the Tamaranean officer's arms. When the other Tamaraneans opened fire, he changed into a fly and zipped effortlessly away from the deadly beams.

_He's actually not too bad,_ Cyborg mused as he ducked behind the nearest stalagmite. "Hey! Grass stain! What am I supposed to do, eh?" he shouted when blaster fire came dangerously close to his left ear.

"You're a cyborg, aren't you? Don't you have some sort of weapon in there somewhere?" the changeling replied before morphing into a grizzly bear to tackle two more Tamaraneans to the ground.

"No, actually!" he shouted back, then ducked another shot. The stalagmite was destroyed moments later, and he had to run for cover to avoid several more shots. He peeked out from behind the stalagmite to see two officers trying to sneak around. He sighed, then smashed through the rock formation and grabbed both of their heads. Before the poor guys knew what hit them, they were out cold.

"You can do that!" Beast Boy chuckled, morphing into a human behind him. "Isn't there some kind of way you can rewire your systems? Something to give us an edge?"

"Well, I think I could build a sonic-"

"Look out!" Beast Boy shouted, interrupting whatever Cyborg had been about to say. Instinctively, Cyborg dove to the ground, narrowly missing about five laser blasts.

"That was a close one," Cyborg muttered, brushing dust off of his metallic arm.

"I'll say," Beast Boy said, then morphed into a crocodile to snap at the nearest Tamaranean. The nimble alien got away, though, so Beast Boy morphed into a snifisx, a slug creature found only on the remote moons of Delphar. This creature caught its prey by engulfing them in the slime that made up its entire body. With a muffled cry, the green snifisx charged at the three nearest Tamaraneans, trapping them all in the green goo. Before long, those three were glued to the wall of the cave, their faces frozen in an expression of utter disgust. When Beast Boy morphed back into a human, he grinned and said, "Like I said, I'm a changeling. I told you we could take 'em!"

"Beast Boy, look out!" Cyborg warned, but he was a moment too late. In a flash of blue, Captain Anj'ir stunned the young ensign with a starbolt. With a sigh, Cyborg grabbed the fallen ensign and ran past the captain, narrowly avoiding a starbolt himself. "Come on, come on," he muttered, still trying to mess with the technology on his arm. If he could build a weapon, even a temporary one, it could save both of their lives.

"Get back here!" Captain Anj'ir shouted, frustrated.

"D'aw man!" Cyborg grunted when he reached another dead end. _Now or never,_ he thought as he heard the footsteps of an approaching captain echoing in the cave behind him. Frantically, he pressed a few more buttons just before the grinning captain walked around the corner, starbolts powered up.

"At the risk of sounding cliched, the road ends here," the captain smirked, preparing to fire one of the bright blue bolts.

"Not quite!" he shouted, closing his eyes, raising his arm, and hoping that the cannon would work. He felt a sharp buzz travel up his arm and through his circuits. _I hope that's a good thing._ When he forced his eyes open again, the Tamaranean captain was on the ground, out cold.

Cyborg's eyes widened and his grin broadened. He bit his lip for a moment, holding back the grin as he stared down at the fallen captain. Finally, he could hold it in no longer. "BOO-YAH!"


	9. 9 Floating Eyes

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 9

She could still hear him pacing outside. Well, he could wait. Longer, if necessary. This was harder than it looked.

She was still somewhere between the rocks, trying to figure out how to get the rest of the way over. According to what he had been whispering to her through the rock, she had about five minutes before the gas kicked in and she started to feel faint. Right. She was already feeling faint because of these dumb powers. So why had she agreed to do this again?

"What are you doing in there?" he whispered through the rock once more, the worry in his voice escalating every time he said it. But she couldn't answer him, so she tried to concentrate on getting through solid rock.

Finally, she felt the warmth of air at her fingertips, and she forced herself on through. She never, _never,_ wanted to go through solid rock again. Ceiling, floors, even rooms, she could do, but solid rock and higridilium? No.

Now all she had to do was find whatever activated the door. That part wasn't too hard; there was a console right to her left. A few moments later, part of the rock slid away, and Richard Grayson rushed in, his face etched with worry.

"What's eating you? I got us in, didn't I?" she sighed. The guy was never satisfied.

"I heard what sounded like starbolts being fired a few corridors down from here. My guess is the Tamaraneans are here, and they've run into Victor and Ensign Logan," he replied, running to the nearest console.

"Trying to tap into the security cameras?" she asked, leaning over his shoulder to look on.

"Am I really that predictable?"

"No, you're just broadcasting that thought really, really loud."

"Right," he half-chuckled, "I forgot you could do that."

The stifled laugh that escaped her throat must have surprised him, but it was no less of a surprise to him than the emotion she had just read was to her. "I'm sorry," she muttered, her cheeks a light pink, "but it strikes me as funny that you'd be jealous of me, of all people."

She'd struck a nerve; his infamous pride came out. "I am not jealous," he insisted, crossing his arms across his chest.

"Yes you are. Don't try and fool an empath. I specifically felt a wave of envy. You wished you could probe minds too."

"That's only half of it," he defended, his eyes narrowed as he continued to punch numbers into the console- with increased vigor.

"Care to enlighten me?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

He sighed. "I wished I could probe minds. It'd be helpful in interrogations." A sly smile spread over his face as he added, "And then I could figure you out."

"When will you learn; there are just some things even the greatest detective can't figure out," she sighed, though she had to fight to keep a smile from her own face.

"But that's what makes a mystery so appealing to detectives: the idea that no one can solve it," he chuckled. Before she could respond, he said, "I've managed to bypass the security, and I'm now trying to access any cameras in the area."

"That was fast."

"Yeah, well," he huffed, "it's familiar technology, okay?"

She could tell from the tone of voice that he didn't want to talk about it, so she didn't push the matter any further. She decided to search the area and see what she could learn. Unfortunately, many of the containment cells had security locks on them; she couldn't even tell what kind of thing was inside them. Though one in particular stood out to her...

"Richard, get over here," she whispered tersely, pressing her ear to this abnormally large cell.

After recovering from the initial shock of conversation and the fact that she had called him by his first name without hesitation, he jogged over. His files were still downloading, so he had time to see what this was all about. "What? What is it?"

"Someone's in there," she replied, still straining to hear any sounds of breathing.

His eyes widened, and he pressed his ear to the cold metal as well. But try as he might, he couldn't hear anything either. He closed his eyes as if that would help him to hear something that he couldn't have before, but still nothing penetrated the wall of higridilium-based metal between them and whoever was inside. "You're sure?" he asked.

She nodded, a bit annoyed that he didn't believe her. "I could sense someone's feelings: frustration, fear, and loneliness. Someone's in there."

She could almost see him weighing the possibilities in his mind. If there was someone in there, it was his duty as a security officer to help him or her, but if getting them out posed a threat to any of his teammates, it interfered with his duty to protect them. He checked his readings one more time, bit his lip, and said, "If I can't find a way in within the next ten minutes, we're going to have to give up on whoever's in there."

"What? Somebody in there needs our help, and if this place is under this much security, I'm pretty sure we should help them!" she shouted.

"Look, if you have a better plan, I'd be more than glad to hear it, but right now, we have other problems. I can't send you through a higridilium wall again; I saw how much energy that took. And there are two other officers that could be in danger right now, and we have no idea what their status is because there's too much interference to try to communicate with them. And to top it all off, higridilium levels are rising. I'd estimate we have ten minutes to try and locate Victor and Ensign Logan before the air becomes too saturated," he said, his voice rising but never reaching the level of shouting. His tone of voice screamed disappointment, and somehow that was worse than shouting.

But that didn't mean she had to listen to him. "I'm going to go in," she announced, closing her eyes and preparing to access her powers.

"No!" he shouted, grabbing her upper arm. His eyes were wide, and they burned with something very close to fear. "We can't risk it. There's no telling how long it will take you this time, and we don't have much time." No doubt about it, that was fear in his eyes. Fear. Richard Grayson was _afraid_ of losing an officer.

"I don't think you have any authority to order me around, Lieutenant!" she snapped, pushing his hand away. "I also have a duty to rescue whoever's in there, whether you like it or not!"

He sighed, shaking his head in annoyance and barely supressed amusment. "Fine, fine. I'll see what I can do to find Cyborg and Beast Boy, but I'll also monitor your vital signs from another console. If I tell you to pull out, there's probably a good reason, so pull out, okay?"

"Fair enough," she agreed. With that, she took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and walked straight at the wall, hoping her powers wouldn't fail. Not now.

TTTTTTTT

As far as he could tell, her vital signs were stable, but there was still a lot of interference from her powers. He wiped his palms on his pants, then tried to force himself to concentrate. He had been taught never to leave fellow officers without telling them where he was going. He had also been taught never to let someone on his team go into a dangerous situation unaided. And most of all, it had been drilled into his head _never_ to lose track of teammates. ..._Great_.

Thankfully, he was able to locate Victor and Ensign Logan fairly quickly. And he got quite a chuckle out of Victor's display of technological force. "Boo-yah?" he laughed quietly, wondering where that one had come from.

Deciding that a quick scan of the other caverns couldn't hurt, he started to search. A few minutes passed, and nothing happened. He was about to quit and switch to tapping into the cell, but something caught his eye. He slowed the camera speed just in time to see a black blur materialize in the cave. Red X was about three minutes away from where they were now.

"Raven?" he called out. "Can you talk right now?" _Surely she can. It's been almost five minutes. _

"You got lucky. What do you want?" she asked, her breathing unnaturally shallow.

He checked her vital signs. _Great, we've got another problem._ "I've got bad news and more bad news," he called across the room.

"That sounds like fun."

"Yeah. Red X is on here. I'd guess we have about two minutes to clear out of here, but based on what I've seen, I don't think you can get through the cell in that amount of time. To make things worse, I know why you're having trouble breathing."

"I just phased through a solid higridilium wall. Is there really more to it?"

"Actually, yes. The levels of gas are higher in the cells themselves. You've got about a minute and a half to get out of there before you lose consciousness."

"Great," she sighed. She paused before asking, "What are our options?"

"Depends. Does whoever's in there with you need medical attention?"

"She's unconscious. Richard, there's something-"

"Can you wake her up?"

"I don't know. Can't you just open it manually with the computer?"

"I'll see, but we don't have much time," he said, rushing over to the console beneath the cell.

"If Red X shows up, I'm phasing us both through."

"And if your powers fail?"

"Don't go there, Lieutenant."

"Fine," he nodded. "I'm trying to gain access to the main frame from here," he said, knowing that she couldn't see him. He assumed that she'd want to know what was going on, as she didn't seem to like not being in control.

"I don't need a play-by-play, you're broadcasting plenty loud from right where you are."

He scowled. "Stay out of my mind." He turned back to his work, fingers flying furiously over the console as he desperately tried to bypass the security. But, to tell the truth, that first bypass had been pure luck. He didn't think he could get past this system. _I hate dealing with Slade. Why can't I ever beat him?_

"Because he's been around longer. Seriously, Richard, can't you accept somebody being better than you?"

"Stop that!"

"You know, when you think about Slade, you broadcast that hatred louder than normal. I could've heard it even if I hadn't been trying."

"Maybe pairing me up with an empath was a bad idea," he growled under his breath.

"My ears work fine too!"

Any sarcastic remark he was about to say died down when he heard footsteps outside the door. In a flash of inspiration, he grabbed the nearest stool and jammed it into the controls necessary to open the door. "That ought to keep 'em busy for a while," he muttered.

TTTTTTTT

Somebody was with her in the cell. If she had been fully awake, she would have blasted such an impudent intruder. As it was, she managed to growl slightly, but the person stifled it with a surprisingly small and gentle hand. Her eyesight hadn't returned yet, but she could hear. This intruder spoke in some different language.

"Koriand'r?"

At last! Something she understood! She tried to respond, but she hadn't recovered her voice yet. But some of her sight was coming back to her. Two floating violet eyes. Two floating violet eyes and one gemstone. Odd.

"What are you doing?" That voice was different than the others. She didn't know what those words meant, but she recognized the voice. That black-haired, black-eyed boy that had aided in her kidnapping.

"I could ask you the same thing. What are you doing all the way out here, so far from Tamaran? You're not following me, are you?" This voice...she didn't recognize it, but it seemed friendly, somehow, even though the speaker was obviously confronting the black-haired boy. She wished she knew what they were saying!

"Don't flatter yourself, kid. There's no one around this time to make sure we observe formalities."

"Wis't griavi'r otir'n?" she asked groggily. _What's going on?_

"I don't speak Tamaranean, sorry," said the floating violet eyes.

_But what does that mean?_ She was starting to get really frustrated.

Something- or somebody- slammed into the door to her cell. Hopefully, it was that black-haired kid. Those two were fighting, but she knew it wouldn't be long before reinforcements arrived.

Sure enough, she heard the familiar 'swoosh' of a door as it opened, but she didn't recognize the voices, and they weren't speaking in Tamaranean. This language was starting to give her a headache.

"Robin! Where's Raven?"

_Who's Robin? And who's Raven? What is going on here?_

"Cyborg! How did you guys find us?"

"Not too hard, actually. We went back to the camp to get out stuff, then traced your communicators."

Somebody grunted, and something hit the wall. Something else connected with someone's stomach, and she heard the distinct 'whoosh' of air from somebody's lungs. _What in all of Tamaran is going on out there?_

"Come on, we're getting out of here," the floating eyes said, and she felt gentle hands beneath her back.

"Ni javant'c nastr'k!" she grunted. _I'm not going anywhere!_

"If you could stop shouting at me when I can't understand a word your saying, maybe I could get us both out," the eyes chuckled.

Then the world went black, and she could not move. The eyes had done something, and she was powerless to object.

TTTTTTT

Note to the readers: I just started school, so writing is really, really slow going. I'll pick it back up ASAP.


	10. 10 Am Not!

I think I'm addicted to this story; I love it so much.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 10

"Ow."

"Where does it hurt?" she asked again, her hands probing his chest carefully.

Suddenly, he tensed up again and grabbed her hand to stop her from poking him. "Ow!" he said pointedly, glaring at her.

Raven sighed, then said, "Just be glad these two showed up when they did, Richard, or you would have been toast."

He groaned, "I could have handled it."

"But you didn't," she pointed out gently, trying to help him to his feet.

He shrugged her hand off his shoulder angrily, muttering, "I can do it." He struggled to his feet, but let out an involuntary gasp of pain and fell forward once more. She caught him and helped him over to a chair.

"You fractured a few ribs, but the nearest medical station should be able to fix that up no problem," she said.

"Didn't we bring medical supplies?" he asked crossly.

"Yes, but nothing to treat this sort of thing," she countered.

"I'll manage."

"No, you won't! You're not some sort of metahuman hero, Richard Grayson, so get that through your head! You're mortal, not invincible, and you have to admit when you're hurt!"

He sighed, and silence prevailed between the two of them for what seemed like an eternity. He seemed to be searching for a distraction, something to keep himself busy with instead of thinking about his injury. Suddenly, he asked, "That's Koriand'r, isn't it?"

She visibly jumped; she had forgotten all about the Tamaranean princess in her worry. Wow. Was Richard Grayson really this important to her? She needed to check her emotions more. "Yeah, she's the one that was in the cell."

"I thought so," he chuckled, struggling to rise to greet the girl. Ensign Logan quickly rushed over to the security officer's side and helped him over to where Koriand'r sat, her knees tucked up underneath her chin.

"Richard Grayson," he said, sticking out his hand in a gesture of friendship.

The Tamaranean princess just stared at the outstretched hand, then raised an eyebrow. She rose slowly, her eyes never leaving his face even as Ensign Logan stepped away to let Richard stand on his own. Without warning, she stepped forward and grabbed the surprised lieutenant by the scruff of the neck.

Without thinking, Raven growled, "What does she think she's doing?"

Ignoring the grunt from Richard, Koriand'r pulled him close for a kiss. Raven felt her eyes widen despite herself and...no, it wasn't. It couldn't be because she didn't _get_ jealous...but it was, wasn't it? Needless to say, Commander Raven was more than relieved when they finally pulled apart.

"Why did you rescue me?" Koriand'r demanded, suddenly speaking English.

"To be nice," Richard spluttered, still held up by the scruff of his neck.

Raven stepped forward carefully. "We're on a mission, Princess. The Tamaranean government thinks that we're responsible for your kidnapping, so we were sent to come and save you. Did you get a good look at your kidnapper?" She ignored the scowl from Richard; as far as she was concerned, they were _not_ just being nice, and she would not let Koriand'r continue to think so. Because if the princess thought that they were just being nice, she would have reason to give Richard another kiss, and, for some reason she couldn't yet explain, she didn't want that to happen.

Koriand'r raised an eyebrow, looking from Raven to Richard before saying, "I only saw one, and he looked like this boy, but with black eyes...and he was taller, I believe. I did not see much, though."

"You didn't see anybody else?"

Koriand'r shook her head, starting to look annoyed. "I saw almost nothing, simply the black-haired boy whose name I do not even know," she said, then looked from one face to another. "You seem to know me, but I do not know who any of you are. And it seems that I must congratulate you."

Cyborg stepped forward, a wide grin on his face. "My name is Commander Victor Stone, but you can just call me Cyborg like everyone else does," he said.

"And I'm Ensign Logan, or Beast Boy. Just call me Beast Boy, because I don't like the name Garfield."

Raven forced a small smile onto her face as she added, "I am Commander Raven. I'm in charge of this rescue mission."

Koriand'r smiled at each in turn, then turned to Richard, who had finally managed to wriggle out of her grasp. "And you are...?"

He fixed her with a huge grin and tried sticking his hand out again. "Lieutenant Richard Grayson, at your service," he said.

She did not take the hand, but stared at it as she asked, "The ones called Cyborg and Beast Boy have changed their names. Why have you not done so as well, Commander Raven and Lieutenant Grayson?"

Richard managed a small chuckle. "First of all," he explained kindly, "they didn't change their names, it's just something we call them in place of their real names to shorten it. A nickname. And I have one too. You can call me Robin, and, if she'll let you, you can just call Commander Raven...Raven."

"I do not think she would like that," Koriand'r observed, noting Raven's cool expression.

"Glad you noticed," she replied, hardly managing to keep her tone even. She did _not_ like this princess, and the sooner she got rid of her, the better. Why she wanted to get rid of this princess so badly was still a mystery to her, but all she knew was that she wanted her gone. But she couldn't be jealous, could she?

Koriand'r glanced from Raven to Richard once more, a frown forming on her face. "I apologize. I did not realize that the two of you were so close. Had I known beforehand that a kiss would bring such contention, I would have chosen someone else. Tell me, are you two betrothed?"

_Wipe that smirk off your face._ "No, we're not. We're just friends."

"Oh," Koriand'r said, a smile plastered onto her face, "then you have no reason to be jealous, as I assumed you to be. Please forgive me for my incorrect presumption."

"Don't mention it," she replied, this time straining harder than ever to keep the growl out of her voice.

Thankfully, Richard stepped in to interrupt their battle of words. "Yeah, Raven's sometimes testy when you first meet her. That's no reason to get off on the wrong foot though, is it?" he asked, pointedly staring at her.

_Oh, so you can't see that she's just as rude as I'm being? What are you, blind? Sure, she's pretty, Richard, but she's a spoiled, pampered, palace brat! Hello!_ But she sighed, "You're right. My apologies, princess, I had no right to be angry with you for...whatever you were doing."

"If it will ease your mind, you may wish to know that the kiss that has gotten you so worked up was simply my people's way of learning languages. Why do you think that I can now speak with you when I could not before?"

Ensign Logan's ears perked up. "Yeah, I remember that now! Robin was talking about that in his lecture!"

Richard groaned, "It figures you'd remember something like that and nothing else of what I said."

"Selective hearing, I'd call it," Cyborg grinned.

Koriand'r looked over at Richard, suddenly smiling broadly. _I really don't like this girl,_ Raven thought despite herself as she heard the princess say, "You have studied Tamaran?"

He grinned back. "It helps to know everything about your mission. I figured we'd be running into some Tamaraneans before we were done, so I thought it would be a good idea to brush up on Tamaranean culture."

She nodded, looking thoughtful. "So that is why you were not as surprised as your teammates were, although you were still somewhat shocked."

"I hate to break up this lovely conversation," Raven interrupted, though she really had meant to break it up, "but in case you've forgotten, we still need a way out of this cave."

"I could probably trace our steps back until we figure it out," Cyborg suggested.

"Or I could change into a hound dog and smell our way out," Ensign Logan offered.

"Do both," Richard said, "and maybe that will increase our time. We've got to get Koriand'r back home before we run into any more...complications."

There it was again. She sensed that familiar dread running through his veins, that thing that was very close to fear. Or anticipation, maybe. "Do you know something the rest of us should know about, Lieutenant?" she asked.

He glared at her. "Just that I've got a feeling it won't be long before they come back- and more of them this time."

Somehow, that was enough for her. She trusted Richard Grayson's feelings; she had come to learn that there was good reasoning behind most of them.

"Hey, Raven, are you okay?" he asked. After all, the commander had been acting strange ever since the princess had arrived. And he felt like it was his job to make sure she was okay.

"I'm fine, Lieutenant," she snapped.

He raised an eyebrow. "I thought we were on a first name basis unless you were mad at me," he said.

"I'm not mad."

"Maybe you're not mad specifically at me, but you're mad."

"And since when were you an empath?"

"Since just now. You passed on your abilities to me, remember? Seriously, Raven, you've been acting weird ever since..."

"Ever since the kiss? Well, yeah, Richard. Of course I'm upset about that! She doesn't even have feelings for you, you know that? She was just trying to communicate with us, okay?"

"I know that! Are you forgetting that I sat there and researched-"

"Do you remember any of that research?" she snapped.

"What do you mean?"

"If you really researched, you'd remember that the kiss meant nothing. Don't try and hide it, Richard, you've got a crush on that princess!"

"Why, because I thought she was pretty? Well, I think Blackfire's pretty too, does that mean I'm going to run off with her? And if I told you that you were pretty, would you assume that I wanted to go out with you? In case you haven't noticed, I make it a point to keep emotion out of my work!"

For some reason, this seemed to hit her pretty hard. She refused to talk to him the rest of the way out of the cave, and he didn't know what he had said.


	11. 11 Contractions

Chemistry inspires me!

Disclaimer: I still don't own anything.

Chapter 11

Frozen drool was one of the more entertaining aspects of this wintry wasteland.

Ensign Logan had been content to sit here for some time, watching the others sleep. Of all the people that could drool in their sleep, it was most entertaining to watch Richard Grayson. Of course, the poor guy had an excuse; his injury made him more succeptible to colds. But still, Gar couldn't help but picture little people skating around on the mini ice rink the lieutenant had created.

Not that he'd ever let on that he had seen this. If Cyborg had been hard to cross when his space had been violated, Richard Grayson would be even worse, especially with his security training. So Gar was content to just sit and watch the ice rink get bigger.

It was his turn to stand guard, and he supposed that his attention should be on the entrance, but he had morphed into an earth dog to increase his ears' sensitivity. If anyone was coming, he would hear them long before they could be seen. So he rationalized that he didn't neccessarily have to be looking at the wall of white before him.

"If you were a real guard dog, you wouldn't be nearly as easily distracted," said a voice behind him that he recognized only too well.

"Commander Raven?" he asked, morphing back into his human form. "How long have you been up and about?"

"Just a little while, actually, but you were too preoccupied to notice, I see," she smirked.

"Yeah, well, you could have given me some kind of warning, at least," he pretended to pout.

"It's not becoming of an officer to act like he's four," she gently chided, but her comeback wasn't as harsh as he had expected.

He raised an eyebrow, daring a question. "Hey, Commander...um...hey, Raven, are you okay?" he asked quietly, shifting so he could see her face.

She turned away slightly, pulling the hood up over her face. Most of her face fell into shadow, hiding much of what she could have been feeling. "I'm just fine, Ensign."

Since she seemed to be anything but fine, and since she didn't seem to be snapping at him anymore, he decided that it was safe to try again. With a grin, he changed himself into an Azirian truka, the equivalent of a dog. He chose this form because trukas possessed the same empathic abilities as the Azirians themselves. After he changed back, he could hardly hold back a grin at her surprised expression. "I haven't done that in a long time, but as far as I can tell, you're more than a little preoccupied," he said. "Anything you want to talk about?"

She shook her head, but a small smile played on her face behind the hood. "I don't think you could do anything about it, anyway. I'm just having trouble with what I'm feeling," she said simply.

"Because you're used to understanding others' feelings and not having to deal with your own," he nodded.

"You're a lot smarter than you give yourself credit for," she chuckled.

"More like my best friend growing up was an Azirian. Ah, Terra and I used to sit around a campfire and just listen to each other's thoughts," he smiled, remembering his blonde friend.

"You miss her, don't you?" Commander Raven asked quietly.

"Of course I miss her. She hasn't graduated training yet, since she's a year younger than me. But she'll get there, I'm sure of it," he said, as much to himself as to the commander sitting next to him.

"She sounds interesting," Commander Raven said, crossing her legs and putting her chin in her hands.

"Interesting is an understatement. Poor Terra was one of those gifted Azirians, like you, but she didn't know how to control herself," he smiled. Of course, that was the understatement of the year. Terra had no clue how to even access the powers.

Commander Raven nodded thoughtfullly, "Yes, it's something of a challenge to know what to do with these strange abilites."

"Yeah, but Terra had more trouble than normal. She couldn't keep herself from accessing the powers by accident. I remember more than once she accidentally hit me upside the head with one of those boulders," he sighed, his eyes fixed anywhere but Raven's face.

"When I meet her, I'll be sure to see what I can do," Commander Raven smiled.

"Hey, you did that on purpose, didn't you?" he asked suddenly, narrowing his eyes.

"Did what?" Commander Raven asked, unsuccessfully feigning innocence.

"Got me off topic. We were talking about your problem, remember?"

She just chuckled, drawing a circle in the dirt with her index finger. "I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about. I don't have a problem."

TTTTT

You didn't bring bad news to Blackfire without a little assurance that you would escape alive. You just didn't.

Red X was just glad that Blackfire needed him. That was his assurance that he'd escape alive. Besides, he could get out of almost anything the Tamaranean princess could throw at him. But the 'almost' was what troubled him.

"Come in," he heard her say through the door. She sounded like she was in a good enough mood, so he decided it would be alright to get right down to it.

He sighed, activating the control panel that allowed him to open the door. "Hello, Your Highness," he said as civily as he could.

"X, you're early. Good news, I hope?"

Maybe it was just his imagination, but it sure sounded like her voice had a hint of sarcasm in it. "Actually..."

"They found the cave?" she sighed.

"That's not too far from the whole story, Your Highness," he said. He found that when he used her title, she would be less likely to attack him. Not that he couldn't handle her, but his talents were wasted on fighting with his employer. Besides, he enjoyed the luxuries of living with Tamaranean royalty.

"Spill it."

"Your sister escaped," he said.

"What?" she screamed, her eyes glowing purple for a moment in anger. She pounded the table, and it bowed forward. Several papers and a lamp slid towards her on impact.

"She escaped. I have several officers stationed near the mouth of the cave, and the reports are that they're about to camp," he said. He had anticipated her reaction and made preparations to fix the problem. That was his job, after all. Besides, the sooner he fixed the problem, the sooner he would be on her good side. And the sooner he was on her good side, the sooner he could coax some more "promotions" out of her.

"I want her back! How did this happen?"

"You do recall that the team led by Commander Raven was fairly close to the cave when they crashed," he began.

"Yes, yes. But how did they even get inside?" she interrupted angrily.

"That's the only part of this thing that my people don't understand. By all accounts, they should have been trapped in the cave. They shouldn't have been able to get inside," he said. "Perhaps we underestimated them."

"No, you think?" she sneered. She took a deep breath and sat back down, absently playing with a stray lock of black hair.

"Should I order the witnesses destroyed?" he asked, mentally preparing himself for such a battle. He'd need a few more warriors, and preferrably a ship of his own...

Blackfire smiled, shaking her head. "No," she said quietly. "No, I don't think so."

"I beg your pardon?" Her reaction didn't just surprise Red X; it disappointed him. He had come to appreciate the warrior nature of the Tamaraneans.

"Don't you see, X? These four officers got past our best security! I say it's time we learned more about them, don't you think?"

"I'm afraid I don't follow."

Her grin broadened. "I say we welcome them with open arms. Let me deal with giving the explanations. I'd like to hear the whole story, wouldn't you?"

He nodded, "So that we can prevent it from happening again."

"So that we can prevent them from telling anyone else," she corrected. She leaned over to press the communicator on her desk. "Lieutenant Leon, arrange a yacht. I'm going to Earth."

TTTTTT

"They haven't moved yet, have they?" asked Lieutenant Vane, blowing a stray strand of her short, red hair out of her face.

"Not an inch. They're just...sitting there," answered her commanding officer, Lieutenant Commander Yamoch. Unlike Vane, Yamoch had chosen to grow his hair out.

Both Tamaranean officers sat in the snow several meters away from the mouth of the cave, standing watch in case the intruders decided to make a run for it. It was boring, but Commander X had ordered them to do it. And anyone who disobeyed Commander X answered directly to the princess.

"I believe you mean they're sleeping," said a slightly amused voice from behind them.

Vane and Yamoch spun around to see Commander X in the snow behind them, grinning broadly. "Commander! We didn't expect you back so soon!" Vane muttered.

Yamoch was a little more comfortable talking to Commander X, as he had served with the human for a longer period of time. "I see Princess Blackfire didn't blast you to pieces. How'd you manage that one?"

Vane smiled at Yamoch's easy-going speech. Ever since Commander X, with such strange language structures as 'contractions' and 'slang' had come aboard their ship, Yamoch had been quick to pick up on his habits. Vane had mastered such things as 'didn't' and 'couldn't', but she failed to see the logic behind the exclaimations of other humans. Especially the contraction 'y'all' as made by the half-robot human she had just fought.

"Lucky for us, the princess anticipated this. She's on her way right now. I'd guess we have about thirty minutes left of this waiting game," Commander X grinned, laying down in the snow between the two Tamaraneans.

"Princess Blackfire is coming here personally?" Vane repeated, her heart racing. Since she had only served on the flagship for a few months, she had not yet had personal dealings with the princess. Suddenly, she wasn't sure if she should be scared or excited.

"Yes, Lieutenant..." Commander X paused, trying to recall her name.

"Lieutenant Vane, sir," she offered, trying to hide the blush of embarassment on her cheeks.

"Right. Lieutenant Vane. Well, she's on her way here right now. Unless they wake up, I think it's safe to say we're in the clear," Commander X said.

"Pardon me, sir. 'In the clear'?" Vane asked, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

A slight smile tugged at the edge of his snow-coated lips. "It means we shouldn't have to worry."

"Ah. Thank you," she said, again trying to hide her blush of embarassment. Human language was so much more confusing than Tamaranean. Not that Commander X couldn't speak Tamaranean, as he had demonstrated on various occasions, but the commander simply preferred his native tongue. Sometimes, Lieutenant Vane thought that it would be easier to be born speaking English than to try and learn it.

Suddenly, Yamoch started in surprise. "They're changing shifts," he said.

Vane peered closer. "Isn't it a little early?"

Yamoch shook his head. "I know, but there are two of them up and about now. The Azirian and the shape-shifter."

Commander X nodded, suddenly more interested than he had been before. "Commander Raven and Ensign Logan."

Vane smiled in approval. "It seems you have done your research, Commander."

Commander X raised an eyebrow. "Of course I have. I know all their names and ranks, even their nicknames."

"It is hardly the time to exaggerate your abilities, Commander," Vane scoffed.

"Actually," Yamoch said before Commander X could respond, "the commander is quite good at finding the right information. I wouldn't doubt him for a second, Vane, as you'll soon come to see."

Vane kept a feral growl from rising in her throat. "I just find it hard to accept that a mere human could posess such knowledge," she said, looking pointedly at her commander. Suddenly, Commander X wasn't so daunting.

"I get the feeling you don't think very highly of humans, Lieutenant," Commander X said, his voice almost a chuckle.

"If you do, you are probably right," she shot back, a smile dancing on her own lips; though her smile was more of a smirk than anything.

This only made Commander X's smile broaden. "I'd like to introduce you to a friend of mine. A Lieutenant Richard Grayson. I wonder how you two would fare."

"Isn't he the security officer on this mission?"

Commander X nodded. "In fact, Lieutenant Vane, I'm assigning you to him next time we fight. I'd challenge you myself, but I don't like to use too much energy for such trivial manners," he smirked, turning away to talk to Lieutenant Commander Yamoch for a moment.

"I look forward to it," she muttered, focusing her attention back on the mouth of the cave. Or, more appropriately, the sleeping security officer at the mouth of the cave.


	12. 12 Problems and Doctors

This chapter was written in thanks to my beta for one of my stories in the works.

Disclaimer: still own nothin'

Chapter 12: Problems and Doctors

"Victor was right. You really do give yourself longer shifts," Raven chuckled, sitting next to Richard.

"You looked like you needed some sleep," he shrugged, never taking his gaze off the white hills in the distance. He was so different from Ensign Logan in that way; he stayed focused on the task at hand, no matter how tedious.

"And so do you," she pointed out. "You're not being fair to yourself."

"Somebody has to pay attention. Do you really think Gar Logan would be good to watch our backs?"

"Not in the way you do it. But he's got good hearing as a guard dog, and he would wake us up if something happened," she said. "Is it so hard to admit that you're pushing yourself too hard?"

"I'm not pushing myself too hard!"

"I guess it is," she sighed, shifting her weight so that she lay on her stomach with her chin propped up in both hands. It was more comfortable.

After several minutes of uncomfortable silence in which he seemed to be wrestling with some thought or another, he asked, "Raven, what did I do wrong?"

The question startled her, even though it shouldn't have. She should have heard it coming, after all. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, what did I do wrong with Koriand'r? You got really mad at me for some reason," he said, this time actually turning to face her.

"I just don't want you getting a false sense of security with her. She was just kidnapped, I highly doubt that she actually trusts you," she said. Now that she thought about it, she wasn't really sure why she had exploded like that.

"I've dealt with this sort of thing before, Raven. Of course I knew that. I just wanted to know if maybe you knew something I didn't, the way you were going on like that," he explained, returning his gaze to the white hills.

"So, anything interesting?" she asked. "All I see are white hills."

"No, they're not just hills," he said. Indicating the curved end of one such hill with his index finger, he said, "If you look carefully, you can see a boot sticking out of the snow. I'd say they're waiting for us to move, or at least until they get orders to move. Since this officer hasn't hidden herself very well, I'd say she's either an ensign or a lieutenant."

"She?" she asked. Richard Grayson never ceased to amaze her.

"Look at the design of the boot. First of all, it's a lot smaller than most boots, and the design itself is definitely feminine."

She shook her head. "All I can see is a purple toe," she sighed.

"Like you said, I've been pulling a longer shift than normal," he shrugged. "Besides, I've been trained to notice these things. And not just at the Academy."

As much as she wanted to know the story behind that statement, Raven knew when it was not appropriate to ask. And it definitely wouldn't be appropriate to ask while Richard was so intent on his work. "And speaking of long shifts, I still think you should go to sleep. Now."

"Is that an order, Commander?" With any other officer, she would have thought he was being insubordinate. But she caught the teasing tone in his voice.

"Yes it is, Lieutenant. Bed. Now," she said, fighting the laughter in her voice.

"I'm not tired," he countered.

"I don't care. I don't want a tired security officer on my team!"

"I've gone without sleep before."

"Then we're going to have to fix that bad habit."

"But I-"

"Sleep, already, for crying out loud!" she sighed, trying her best to sound angry.

"You're not really mad at me," he pointed out.

"I'm about to be," she said, finally finding that growl in her voice.

"Okay, okay," he laughed, holding up his hands in a gesture of defense. "I'm going to go to sleep now, alright?"

"That's better," she said, turning her attention to the hills to show him that she was very much capable of taking over for him. But he didn't lie down. He just... sat there. Finally, she blurted out, "What are you doing?"

"I'm going to sleep," he said matter-of-factly.

"Sitting up?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because."

But Raven had finally managed to regain control of her empathy. She heard the rest of it. "Because you're hurt, and it's uncomfortable to lie down."

"I really think it was a mistake to pair me with an empath," he sighed, leaning his head back against the wall.

"Maybe it wasn't a mistake," she said, staring at her hands.

"You think they did it on purpose to keep me in check?" he asked teasingly.

"Yes. But that's not what I meant," she said, staring harder at her hands. If she tried it, she could really hurt him. But if it worked...

"You've got a plan," he said. It wasn't a question; he knew. Somehow, he knew. "And from the looks of it, it's a dangerous plan," he added.

"It's more than a little dangerous," she said.

"Then we're not going to try it," he said, as if that was the end of it. "We can't put you at risk."

"It wouldn't be dangerous for me," she whispered, but he heard it.

He leaned forward slightly, eyebrows raised. "Let's hear it, then."

"And why don't you mind putting yourself at risk?" she asked. "You just closed the matter because you were afraid you'd lose me."

"I hate losing an officer," he shrugged. "It's been drilled into my head. But me? I'm used to taking risks. And so far, I've been incredibly lucky."

She sighed. "If we try this, you have to promise to tell me why you hate losing an officer. The real reason."

"That's not a fair trade."

"I think it is."

"Fine. Let's hear the plan first before I make any promises."

TTTTTT

"Your Highness?"

Blackfire sighed. She was _not_ in the mood to receive more bad news. "What?"

"We have a problem."

That was not what she wanted to hear. "Then fix it. I can't run everything by hand," she said, waving off the comment.

"We don't know how."

Well, that was certainly unexpected. "Didn't Commander X report back to you?"

The lieutenant on the screen shook her head, her pretty eyes wide. "Yes, but..." she paused, trying to find words to say. "He does not know what to do either."

_That's definitely new. _"Are we talking about the same Red X here?" she asked before she could stop herself.

"Here, let me talk to her," said a voice from off-screen. The lieutenant stepped away from the screen, and Red X stared back at her. "Commander Raven and Lieutenant Grayson have disappeared. I'm having a hard time pinpointing their position because of the interference from the snowstorms around the mountain," he said.

_Good old X, always getting right to the problem._ "Then start guessing. Can't you teleport in and out of places?"

"I'm running low on xinothium. I asked some of the officers I knew were coming on your ship to bring some more. I can't even come over there, and you're relatively close."

"How did they disappear, anyway?"

"You were right about the Azirian. She does have some sort of powers. Explains how she was able to get past our security systems. The problem is, I've never dealt with this kind of thing before. For all I know, they could be back at their headquarters."

"I highly doubt that. If they went back there, they'd have brought my sister with them. Why just Lieutenant Grayson?"

"Your Highness, if I may speculate?" the previous lieutenant piped up, and X stepped back so she could speak. "Our reports indicate that Lieutenant Grayson had been wounded. Perhaps he needed medical attention."

"Sounds like a good place to start. Thank you, Lieutenant...um..."

"Vane, Your Highness."

"Vane. Right. X, get on it. I don't care if you have to hike up the mountain yourself. I do _not_ need word of this leaking out."

"With all due respect, Highness, I think Yamoch would be better suited for this. Since I can't fly," X said, though she knew the words had cost him dearly. Red X hardly ever turned down an assignment, and he _hated_ admitting when someone was better.

"Alright, send him then. I don't care. Find the nearest medical facility and bring them back," she sighed, massaging her temples. "I'll be there in less than half an hour."

TTTTTTTT

Ever since the age of exploration had started, medical facilities had been getting strange patients. They learned to adapt, and now, hardly anything could surprise a doctor. But every once in a while, a surprise would pop up.

This was one of those surprises.

Brian rubbed his brown eyes once more, just to make sure he wasn't hallucinating. But he wasn't. If he had been, he'd have had to report to the counselor, and he didn't much care for Counselor Karie. So he wasn't sure to be scared that he wasn't hallucinating, or to be happy.

"How did you get here?" he finally managed to ask.

"That would take a long time to explain," said the young man that had suddenly appeared on the countertop. "I'm just surprised I made it here. You don't happen to know what happened to my companion? An Azirian woman? Purple hair? Violet eyes? Not a people person?"

"Nope, sorry. All I know is, you're suddenly sitting right next to a very important experiment of mine, and I'd very much appreciate it if you didn't crush it, okay?"

The young man smiled, then hopped down, giving Brian a chance to look him over. From the looks of him, he was just a normal human. The uniform indicated the rank of lieutenant, and he had blue eyes and a mop of black hair. Very normal looking, if you didn't count the fact that he was here. But, then, as a doctor, it was fairly easy for him to see the young man's wince of pain.

"But I bet your being here isn't an accident," he said.

Surprisingly, the young man just chuckled. "Darn doctors. Way too observant."

"How did it happen?" he asked, grabbing his doctor's robe and some instruments. "Looks like you've cracked a few ribs, and you've got several bruises."

"Hey, there's always risks when you put the uniform on. But, seriously, have you seen my companion?"

"I already told you, I have no idea."

"Because she could be in danger as well. She might have appeared outside the building, in the bathroom, anywhere. We're still getting used to this thing."

"I take it she's the one that brought you here?"

"Do you think I would have come to the doctor if she hadn't?"

Sighing in annoyance, Brian ran a hand through his blonde hair. "Just sit down. I'll have my fellow doctors look for your friend, okay? You've got a more pressing issue. How did you break those ribs?"

He shrugged, not really looking at him, but at the variuos instruments set across the table. "I'm a security officer. These things happen."

"Really," Brian growled, starting to get annoyed.

"Got blasted by a bounty hunter of sorts, hit with a few starbolts, and kicked several times. Happy?"

"Very," Brian smiled. "I should be able to patch those ribs up in a few minutes. Now, sit very still, and I'll even take care of those bruises for you."

The young man obeyed, but his eyes still swept over the counter. Finally, he said, "I didn't know you were a chemist, Doc."

"It's a hobby," he said, waving the comment off.

"Higridilium and hydrogen. That's an interesting combination," he observed.

"We've had a lot of patients come to us with higridilium poisoning," he said. "Speaking of which, you're showing some signs of that. If you can sit still for maybe a minute longer, I can take care of that problem, too."

"Did you ever pinpoint the source?"

"No, but we're working on it."

"You should try the cave on the south side of the mountain. It looks like it ends in a dead end, but if you scan it carefully, it's got a lot of chemicals behind it."

"I'll try that."

"And Doc?"

"What?" he asked, starting to get annoyed with this teenager who thought he knew everything.

"You bumped the experiment. I'd seperate those two containers before we all go up in smoke."

Brian gasped, spun around, and attented to the problem. When he turned back around, the young man was smirking at him.

"What's your name, boy?" he asked.

"Lieutenant Richard Grayson, at your service," he smirked, bringing his hand up to a mock salute.

"Well, I'm Doctor Brian Hunter. And you're done here," he sighed, somewhat glad to be rid of this young man.

"Then I'm off to go find my friend. Thanks for the help, Doctor."


	13. 13 Conspirators

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the storyline. The characters, setting, and timeline and basically anything else isn't mine.

So, I realized I finished this story and never posted it here... Oops... I'll try to update the chapters at good intervals and stuff...

Chapter 13: Conspirators

At least it wasn't the toilet. She kept repeating that over and over in her head.

Commander Raven brushed herself off, coughing a bit from all the dust she had shaken up. She reached out to open the door, but found that there was no doorknob. She spun around to see where she was. A janitor's closet. Brilliant.

"Richard!" she shouted, banging on the door and hoping he could hear her. Then again, if he was dead, he couldn't hear her anyway.... She started banging harder. Still no one answered. She told herself to stay calm. Someone would have to open the door sooner or later.

She thought about phasing through the door, but after phasing through solid higridilium, she felt very nearly exhausted. And she would rather not get stuck in the door. So she searched the room for something to force the door open with. Nothing. Just cleaning materials. Maybe she should rest a moment, and then she would have the energy to try to phase through the door.

She sincerely hoped that Richard had made it, that his luck hadn't run out. Silently, she cursed her powers, herself, and anything in general she could think to blame if something had gone wrong. Including the higridilium, Koriand'r- especially her! -and Red X. Now that she thought about it, mostly Red X.

"Raven?"

She recognized that voice, thankfully. "Richard! In here!"

The door opened, and Richard smirked at finding her stuck in such a predicament. "I found you. You're 'it'." Maybe he only teased her when he felt like her pride had been hurt. Because it sure was.

"Oh, very funny," she said, rolling her eyes. "Where have you been?"

"Getting my arm fixed like you told me to, stopping an experiment from blowing up, and peeking over instruments to learn how to cleanse our team of higridilium poisoning," he shrugged dismissively.

"Not like you were in any danger or anything," she smirked.

"No, not at all," he smiled, and for a moment, she wondered why he was smiling like that. But then he stopped smiling and got back down to business and everything was normal again. "We have to get back down there," he said.

She nodded. "I'm sure the others are wondering where we went."

"Not to mention the Tamaraneans watching us," he added.

"Sweet Azar, Richard, do you think Red X did something stupid when he heard we disappeared?" she asked despite herself.

Though he raised an eyebrow at her exclamation, he calmly shook his head. "I think he'd be more concerned about us potentially spilling the beans to somebody else than he'd be worried about the others. They're fine where they are."

She nodded, her heart rate slowing, then a slow smile spread across her face. "And now you have to fulfill your part of the bargain."

"What?" he asked, nearly stumbling backwards.

"Did you think locking me in a closet would make me forget? You're going to tell me why you're so afraid of losing an officer."

He nodded thoughtfully, no doubt mentally berating himself for being so quick to chose. "Fine. But I'm not going to tell you. I'm going to show you."

"How?"

He grinned at her. "You think you're the only one who knows how to meditate?"

......

"And you swear you'll be careful?"

"For crying out loud, Dick, you worry way too much. I'll come back in one piece, I promise!" laughed a voice. It took a moment for Raven's eyes to adjust, and then she saw that the voice belonged to a girl with red hair and green eyes, much like Koriand'r.

"I know. I just don't want you to get hurt. It's pretty bad down there, Babs," she heard Richard saying, although the words were coming out of her mouth. Then she caught the reflection in the mirror. Richard stared back at her, blue eyes and all. And his bangs weren't in his face, which was a nice change. His eyes were beautiful.

The girl, obviously Babs, just laughed at him, her big eyelashes fluttering like butterflies. Raven could feel Richard's heart spinning out of control, but she could also feel how much it hurt for him to give his heart to someone. It must have taken some time for the two of them to hook up. So why didn't she feel this from the Richard she knew now?

Unless...

The girl names Babs stepped into the shuttle, winking at him. "What, no goodbye?"

Richard's heart raced, but he managed a convincingly reprimanding look. "Babs..."

"I'm just saying, if you're all concerned about sending me to my doom..."

Richard laughed, then gave in, stepping forward to embrace the girl names Babs. Raven could feel Richard's heart once more diving into his stomach, and she found she actually enjoyed the feeling. She hadn't ever felt it before. And the feeling only intensified when Babs lay her head on Richard's strong chest.

"And you promise you'll be careful?"

Babs looked up at him reprimandingly. "Dick Grayson, don't you have anything else to say?"

"I love you, too, Babs," he smiled, then gave her one last quick hug.

"Don't worry. I'll get that civilian out of the bad guy's hands before you'll even start missing me. It's not like the bad guy this time is anyone important. I mean, I've never heard of this Slade character before, have you?"

Raven nearly swallowed her tongue. Slade? Oh no...

"Not really. I tried to research him earlier, and nothing came up. But that doesn't mean-"

"Dick?"

"Yeah?"

"Just stop talking and say goodbye."

Richard smiled. "Okay, okay. G'bye, Babs."

"Thank you," Babs smiled triumphantly, waving even after the shuttle door closed.

....

"Please no. Please no. Please no!" Richard was repeating over and over.

It took Raven a moment to find her bearings. She- or rather, Richard -was running down a hallway, breathing heavily. She saw smoke billowing from one end of the hallway. Richard reached a frantic hand up to his shoulder to activate the communicator. "Babs, we can't afford to lose you! Get back here!" Richard sounded frantic, and Raven wondered what Babs was doing to scare him so badly.

"But it's the only way to save the civilians!"

"I'll think of another way!"

"There isn't time, and you know it!"

"Babs..."

"Look, you and I both know there's no way out of this one. I'd love to debate it with you, but I have a job to do."

And then the transmission ended. Richard slammed his fist into the wall, his hand going -for some reason- to his left ear.

"I'm gonna kill you for this," he muttered.

"Is that a threat?" asked a voice suddenly in Richard's ears. Raven's heart jumped into her throat, wondering for a brief moment where the voice was coming from. Realization dawned only a few moments later: Slade.

"You better believe it," Richard growled, and Raven could feel the anger seeping out of his words as though it were a tangible thing.

.....

Then Raven found herself staring back into blue eyes. "Captain Wayne made sure we were strong both physically and mentally," he was explaining.

"Okay," she muttered as her vision started to clear.

"And I'm sure Victor told you how I got my nickname?"

She nodded, still piecing things together. There was an obvious gap, she knew, and she doubted if he would ever trust anyone enough to show them that. But she had seen enough. She smiled, cautiously moving her hand to place it over his. "Hey, I'm sorry."

"You shouldn't be," he said, staring at her hand as if it were a foreign object. "You weren't there. It was all my fault anyway. And don't you dare tell me it wasn't."

"You know that's not-"

He pulled away, standing up and dusting himself off. Only then did Raven realize they had been sitting down. "Let's get moving. I'm sure the others are wondering where we are."

.....

Koriand'r's eyes fluttered open. Someone was kneeling beside her! She instinctively kicked that someone, only to realize moments later that it was one of her rescuers. Well, if it was that uppity Azirian, she should have kicked harder.

"Hey! What did you do that for?"

Koriand'r sighed. It was that changeling ensign. "My apologies," she murmured, the words tasting funny on her lips. She had never had to apologize for anything when people treated her the way she was supposed to be treated, that is, like royalty.

"S'okay. I'd be rattled, too, if I were kidnapped," he shrugged, then returned to his post in front of the cave. Koriand'r took some comfort in the fact that her rescuers had the common sense to keep on the lookout.

Koriand'r propped herself up on her shoulders, looking around her. She saw two sleeping cots in a corner, squinting as she tried to discern the lumps on top. They must have been Commander Raven and Lieutenant...what did he call himself?...Robin. A sleepy grunt from the cot nearest her confirmed her thoughts.

"Man, what are you doing? I'm trying to sleep," Commander Stone mumbled, turning over to try to get more comfortable.

"Sorry, Cyborg," the ensign muttered, and Koriand'r searched her mind for the ensign's nickname. Something beginning with B... Beast Boy? Yes, that was it.

She squinted at the cots in the corner. Strange that those two had yet to move... Suddenly, her eyes widened, and she began to fear the worst. "Where is Robin? And where is Commander Raven?"

Beast Boy's eyes widened. "What? They're right there!" he nearly shouted, pointing towards the two cots in the corner.

"How could you have neglected to notice that two of your teammates were missing?" she asked, suspicions already taking form in her mind.

"I don't know!" Beast Boy said, the panic rising in his voice. "Raven woke me up, and then asked if I'd take the next shift so she could make Robin go to sleep. So I did. That's all I remember! Honest!"

It was all starting to come together in her mind. The likeness between Robin and the one they called Red X. They were not different; they were the same person! She had not been rescued! Her captors were simply toying with her! As she felt the righteous anger grow, her eyes lit up.

"Um, Princess Koriand'r, why are your eyes glowing?" Beast Boy asked.

Koriand'r did not respond. If her captors were going to play games with her, they should have known better than to give her control of her powers. She pulled a glowing fist back in preparation to launch a starbolt.

"Whoa! What do you think you're doing?" Cyborg shouted, suddenly awake.

"Yeah, Miss Princess, we saved you!" Beast Boy whimpered.

"You will not continue to try to deceive me!" she shouted angrily.

"What are you talking about?" Cyborg asked, and he looked genuinely confused, throwing Koriand'r off for a moment. "We're not trying to trick you!"

"Then where are your teammates?"

Cyborg glanced back towards the cots in the corner, squinting. His eyes widened in surprise, and he spluttered, "I honestly don't know." His tone seemed sincere enough.

Though she still did not trust them, Koriand'r grudgingly put down her starbolt. A warrior would not fire on an innocent bystander. Either Robin and Commander Raven had been captured, or they were traitors, but Cyborg had convinced her -through acting or honesty, she could not tell- to hold her fire.

"Dudes, do you think Robin and Raven got captured or something?"

Cyborg shook his head. "No, Raven wouldn't have taken the time to wake you up if she was fighting to protect Robin."

"Why would Robin need to be protected?" Koriand'r asked. From what little she had seen, she felt that Robin was a warrior, even if a dishonorable one.

"He got hurt, remember?" Beast Boy explained.

Cyborg suddenly straightened up. "Robin hates the doctor!"

"Huh?" Beast Boy swung his head around to stare blankly at the older officer.

"Robin hates to go to the doctor, and he always covers up how hurt he is. Who's the only one who would have known how hurt he really was? Someone who'd share his feelings?"

"Raven!" Beast Boy nearly shouted, his eyes lighting up.

Koriand'r raised an eyebrow. "I will tell you this much: If this is a conspiracy, you have most certainly made it more complicated than neccessary."


	14. 14 Arrested

Ah, so this chapter's rather short...

Disclaimer: I do not own, nor have I ever owned, anything related to the Teen Titans universe. Only the storyline is mine.

Chapter 14: Arrested

"So, where are we?"

She rolled her eyes. "I thought you were the expert."

"I am," he agreed, then fell silent, not about to insult his pride by admitting that he didn't know where he was going.

At least he was going in relatively the right direction. She could begin to sense Ensing Logan's presence. And the feelings of distrust must have been from either Princess Koriand'r or one of the Tamaranean warriors watching their camp.

"We're getting close," he said suddenly, breaking the silence.

"Do you recognize something?" she asked, preparing to receive another lecture on some small, insignificant detail, like that boot.

"No. It's just a gut feeling."

She raised an eyebrow; she had not been expecting that one. "Okay."

Sure enough, he soon pointed into the distance. "There's the cave."

Though she could not quite see it, she squinted in that direction, smiled, and nodded. "Right."

He took off running in that direction, finally confident with where he was going, and she followed after. She had a hard time keeping up with him, not only because he had longer strides, but because he could run so fast.

"I take it this means you actually made it to the doctor?" she asked when he paused to make sure he wasn't walking into a trap or something.

"Yeah. He was working on an experiment for higridilium poisoning. I took some with me; we should make sure the rest of the team gets some of the antidote."

She shook her head. "And how did it go with your ribs?"

He shrugged, "Simple procedure, as always."

They both fell silent. Raven wasn't sure what to say. After that experience, after seeing what he had endured, why he was the officer he was today, he didn't feel the same. He made a little more sense. And it was a bit strange; she wasn't sure how to react to him. She didn't like not knowing; she was usually in control of everything.

"There's a couple soldiers at the mouth of the cave. It shouldn't be too much of a problem getting past them. Although, if you want to help us out a little bit, I wouldn't complain," he said, flashing her a small smile.

She returned the smile. "I think I could manage that."

As she was about to engulf the two of them in her powers, though, they both heard a loud whine behind them. They both spun around to see a Tamaranean ship descend out of the clouds. "Where did they come from?" Richard shouted above the whine of the engines.

"I don't know, but I'm not betting they're too friendly!" she shouted, then wrapped her powers around both of them. After a moment of that familiar tingling sensation, they appeared just outside the mouth of the cave. They weren't in the cave; she was not about to go anywhere near that higridilium.

"Nice save," he said.

They both turned to see the ship land. "It's too decorated to be a warship," she observed.

He nodded in approval. "My thoughts exactly. It's missing the markings on the underside. Besides, warships would have a latch for their cannons, and there isn't one on this ship, although I can see where the weapons are in the front."

"So there was a point to killing yourself over research."

He turned to say something, but a small, green blur attacked him. He reached behind him and pulled his attacker over his shoulder, pulling a fist back to strike. Then he saw who his attacker was. "Ensign Logan?"

The changeling nodded, eyes wide. "Don't hurt me. I'm on your side!"

Richard grinned. "Relax, Gar. Just, don't sneak up on me like that again."

"Don't worry; I've learned my lesson." He looked over his shoulder and gave a low whistle. "Hoo boy, here comes trouble."

Koriand'r stalked over to the two of them, eyes blazing green, which was probably not a good thing. "Perhaps you would care to explain to me where the two of you have been this entire time?"

"Simple. They were going to get their partners," a voice said from inside the cave. "I'm just glad I got here first."

Koriand'r's eyes widened, and she rushed towards the voice. "Sister!"

Princess Blackfire stepped out from the shadows, arms wide, to embrace her sister. "Kori! I was so worried about you!" When she broke the embrace, she looked her sister over. "They didn't hurt you, did they?"

"I am in good health, sister. Fortunately, the higridilium does not seem to have any lasting effects on our people, although it is overwhelming at first."

"Still, we should have our doctors look you over." Blackfire turned to the four wide-eyed officers. "I recognize you. Aren't you the pod we stopped from entering Tamaranean space? Some thanks we get for helping you with repairs."

"Helping?" Victor shouted. "Are you kidding? Your people shot at us!"

"An unfortunate incident, I assure you. I have personally made sure that the captain responsible was reasonably reprimanded. As for you, I'm going to have to ask you to come with my security officers. I'm afraid we'll have to place you under arrest."

"On what charges? We rescued your sister; we didn't kidnap her," Richard said, keeping his voice calm and passive, though Raven could feel the frustration inside of him.

"You have been found with her, and my officers reported your attacking them."

"Because they were at the scene of the crime! We thought they were the ones who had kidnapped the princess!" Gar shouted in exasperation.

"They were my scouts, Ensign," Blackfire said with some distaste, as if it were beneath her to speak to an officer of such lowly status. It probably was.

Raven narrowed her eyes. "And what were your scouts doing so far from home?"

Blackfire flushed. "We thought for sure we'd find my sister on Earth. We were right, weren't we?"

"And you were upset about us coming into Tamaranean space?"

"We thought you were kidnappers."

"Sister," Koriand'r interrupted. "I am certain that the ones called Ensign Logan and Commander Stone know nothing of any plans these two might have had for me. Se initur's fi tura cirte'n."

Richard blinked in thinly concealed surprise. When she raised an eyebrow in silent question, he said, "She just gave an oath to Gar and Vic's innocence. Blackfire is now legally required to let them go free."

Blackfire considered this, then said, "Then they will be our guests. If they truly did rescue you, we should honor them. As for these two, you don't have a problem with me bringing them as prisoners, do you?"

Koriand'r shook her head. "If they were part of my kidnapping, then I have nothing to say in their behalf."

"Your Highness, why would we kidnap you, only to set you free so that you could run away? It doesn't make sense, and you know it," Richard said.

Koriand'r glared at him. "Are you asking me to trust you above my sister? I have only known you for a few hours, Lieutenant."

"I'm not saying you shouldn't listen to your sister. I'm saying that you should at least give us a chance to defend ourselves. Harislun'd dif cridn'p."

Koriand'r's eyes widened. "Where did you learn the language of my people?"

"I only know a little bit. I haven't had enough time to learn the entire language."

"Yet you learned one of our oldest customs, the concept of innocence until one is proven guilty."

He smiled. "Let's just say that our world's aren't as different as we thought."

"But that is an old custom, no longer in use, especially in a time of warfare," Blackfire insisted.

"I thought we weren't at war, seeing as you have your sister back now."

Blackfire smirked, "Didn't we find her where we thought we would?"

"Sister," Koriand'r said, putting a hand on Blackfire's shoulder. "We should not start a war simply over my welfare. Besides, if Ensign Logan and Commander Stone had no knowledge of this incident, what evidence do we have to indicate involvement by anyone else but these two?"

Blackfire's mouth worked furiously, trying to calm herself down. "Sister, you must be confused. Perhaps the higridilium did have an effect on you after all. Guards, please escort my sister to her chamber. And take the prisoners below."

One guard, a tall Tamaranean male with long arms and a balding head, reached out to grab Raven's arms, but she pulled away. "I can escort myself," she snapped. She looked at Richard, her eyes silently asking him how they would get out of this one.

"It wouldn't help if we ran," he whispered, allowing two guards to get on either side of him. "It should be relatively easy to clear our names, anyway." To Blackfire, he said, "Am I to assume that we'll still have a fair trial, as our treaty says?"

"Yes, fine," Blackfire said, waving her hands in the air in exasperation. "I don't care. Guards, just get them out of my sight."

When one of the guards started to push Richard forward, he said, "I've studied the layout of Tamaranean ships. I know where the brig is." He then proceeded to lead the confused guards right into the ship.

"Little wonders never cease," she muttered to herself as she followed.

The last thing Raven saw before they entered the ship was Blackfire and Koriand'r leading Ensign Logan and Victor to a different level of the ship.

......

"It just doesn't make any sense," Victor said as he lay across the large, luxurious bed Koriand'r had prepared for him.

Gar nodded, stretched, then jumped onto his own bed. "How are we supposed to argue, though? For all we know, those two really did have a part in this."

"Right. So Robin broke his ribs just to convince Koriand'r, you, and me that he was on our side?"

"Maybe he was faking it."

Victor shook his head. "I scanned him. His ribs were definitely pretty beat up, and there were a couple other bruises Raven neglected to notice, and he wasn't about to point them out to her."

"So it really doesn't make any sense."

"No, it doesn't."

After a moment, Gar asked, "Can we trace where they went?"

He shook his head. "If we were back on earth, I could scan for their bio signs, but as it is, it would be hard to prove because of all the shifting snow."

"So how are we supposed to help them?"

"Tell the truth," Victor shrugged.

"And what if they don't believe us?"

"That's their problem. Besides, Robin's pretty good at smooth talking."

"I hope it's enough."

"Me too."

......

The door opened, and a beam of light penetrated the darkness he had been sitting in. Raven was seating next to him, her legs crossed, calmly meditating. She peeked one eye open.

"Hey, kid. Long time, no see," said a familiar voice. Red X stood, leaning in the doorway.

"Red X," he nodded calmly, leaning back and picturing a vault locking away his frustration.

Red X smirked. "They'll find you guilty."

"That's the decision of the jury, if I'm not mistaken."

"Which is going to be mostly Tamaranean."

He shrugged. "I'm not going to shy away from your justice system. Besides, it seems to me to be a pretty clear cut case."

"I think you're guilty."

"You were part of the whole thing!"

He grinned. "Yeah, but I still think you're guilty. I mean, if you worked for Slade, what's to stop you from kidnapping a princess?"


	15. 15 Trust

Disclaimer: Same as always. I don't own anything related to Teen Titans, only the storyline.

Chapter 15: Trust

Vane jumped when she heard the explosive sounds that meant one of the prisoners had tried to escape. She immediately ran down the hallway towards the sound, but stopped when she heard Commander X's voice over her communicator. "Lieutenant, stand down. I can handle this."

Vane pursed her lips, trying to decide if Commander X was overestimating his abilities again. Better safe than sorry, she decided at last, and she started down the hallway, this time in the air to avoid letting her footsteps alert Commander X or his adversaries to her presence.

When she rounded the corner, she saw that human security officer holding his hand at a funny angle, but he did not show any other signs of being hurt. He glared daggers at Commander X, but he was not the one Vane worried about. It was that Azirian that could probably take out her commanding officer.

"Nice try, kid, but these cells were built to keep even the toughest Tamaranean warriors inside. I doubt even your magic friend here could break through," Commander X said, and Vane could tell from his tone that he had things under control.

The human security officer did not say anything, and Vane noticed that his jaw was clenched shut. If he opened his mouth, he might just reveal how much his arm hurt. Vane could hardly blame him. Those force fields should have taken him out. They would have at least knocked any other human unconscious. As much as she hated to admit it, she was impressed with this human.

The Azirian, on the other hand, did not have a reason to keep her mouth shut. She shouted something in her native tongue, something that, even with Vane's knowledge of other species, she did not recognize. Her eyes started to glow, and Commander X was suddenly on his knees. Just like that human security officer, though, he kept his mouth shut. Good for him. Commander X could be almost Tamaranean sometimes.

Surprisingly, though, the human security officer shouted for the Azirian to stop. The Azirian was just as surprised as Vane, both of the human's tone and the fact that he could even speak. He tried to put his good hand on her shoulder, but that effort proved just beyond his limits. Little wonders never ceased, did they?

After that, the Azirian released Commander X from whatever torture spell she had put on him, and he dragged himself to his feet. Without another word, he half-walked, half-limped down the hallway. He was so focused on maintaining his composure that he did not notice Vane floating in the air above him.

Once Commander X had disappeared down the hallway, Vane decided to talk to the human and the Azirian. She flew slowly towards them, just in time to hear the human try to laugh, "I just got away from the doctor, too."

She landed in front of the force field and watched with thinly concealed curiosity as the Azirian healed the human's broken wrist. Well, mostly healed it. "It's still a little sore, but I'll make due," the human smiled. "Thanks."

The Azirian smiled back, and Vane could see something between the two of them. Not something visible, but a sort of connection. Like the one between Komand'r and Commander X. Much as the Princess tried to deny it, everyone knew she had a crush on the mysterious Red X. Then again, Komand'r had a new crush every other month, so maybe that particular analogy was not very accurate.

"And who are you?" the Azirian asked, suddenly noticing Vane.

Vane put up her hands in a gesture of defense. "I saw the way you took out Commander X; I am not about to start another fight."

The human chuckled wryly. "Yeah, it's best to stay on her good side."

Vane tilted her head slightly to the side, trying to judge this human. He could not have been much older than Princess Koriand'r, but he had a good build, even if he was short. And he had blue eyes. Piercing blue eyes that almost made Vane want to help him. She mentally shook herself, then introduced herself. "Lieutenant Vane."

The human looked her over, then nodded. "Lieutenant Richard Grayson. Perc'v al'g trao sun qiraf'r."

Vane felt her eyes widen, despite her best intentions to keep her reactions under control. "You know Tamaranean?"

He shook his head. "I know enough. I probably couldn't carry on a whole conversation, but I can get a word or two in edgewise. I mostly learned the words neccessary for your customs."

She shook her head. "Well, you sure do know how to make an impression, Grayson."

"Richard," he said. "You got a first name?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Just Vane. I have no other name."

He laughed, "Oh, sorry. I meant, is Vane your family name?"

"No, my family is Uerto," she said. "If I know your customs, I know you would not let someone you just met call you by your first name."

Richard nodded, "I usually don't. But I see no harm in telling you. You're not going to hurt us. That is, unless you work for Blackfire, too?"

She shook her head. "I work for whoever sits on the throne of Tamaran. That is currently Koriand'r. If Komand'r takes control again, I will follow her."

"Pretty gutless for a Tamaranean," the Azirian observed.

Vane glared at the Azirian, but underdstood her thinking. "Both sisters have a right to the throne, in my opinion. It is Komand'r's birthright, and Koriand'r was appointed to the position. Whoever ends up victorious, I will stand by them."

"And what are you going to do in the meantime?" the Azirian asked.

"I'm going to follow whoever is on the throne."

Richard looked thoughtful for a moment, then asked, "Would you be willing to do something for me?"

Normally, she would not even have considered it. But since the human had earned her respect.... "I want to hear it first."

"Could you bring Princess Koriand'r down here? I wish to ask her something."

"I highly doubt that the princess will consent to visiting those convicted of her kidnapping."

"Just ask her," Richard said.

"Alright," she said, but before she left, she had to ask. "Can I ask a favor of you in return?"

"Anything."

"When you are free-"

"When I am free?"

She smiled. "I may not chose sides when it comes to the ruler of our world, but I can chose sides in this matter. I have no doubt that you should be able to talk your way out of this one."

"Point taken. Go on."

"When you are free, spar with me. You have the spirit of a warrior, and I want to see if the body matches the spirit."

......

Blackfire sighed. Much as she hated to admit failure, it had to be done. She needed information.

But she still hated to be reprimanded, especially by someone who was supposed to be her partner.

"It is no fault of mine, I assure you," said the figure on the screen. "As your Lieutenant Vane suggested, the Azirian was able to bypass the security system, but that was not all. Tell me, who all was on the team?"

Blackfire pulled up the information on the screen nearest her and read off the report. "Commander Victor Stone, AKA Cyborg. Says here you had a little run in with him and his team a while back, so you should know him."

"I seem to recall the occasion," he said, and something about that smile of his made Blackfire shiver. How could someone spook her so, when she was usually in control?

"Then there's an Ensign Garfield Logan. You probably don't know him; he just graduated from the Academy and hasn't had much time to prove himself. Interesting tidbit, though: he's a changeling."

The figure nodded. "And the third member?"

"Lieutenant Richard Grayson, AKA Robin. He was convicted with the Azirian, although my dear sister decided to trust the other two."

The figure fell silent for a moment, but that smile of his stayed put. She didn't like it, and she suddenly felt very sorry for Mister Richard Grayson. Anyone who dealt with Slade had to be either brave or stupid. She was brave, of course, or was she stupid? So far, Slade's technology, for all the cash she'd paid for it, had done nothing.

"Do you know him?" she asked, when he continued to stare quietly at the information she had sent him.

"I do," he said, after a moment's silence. "And if he was on the team, I can explain how they got past my systems."

"So you admit your systems failed?"

"I admit that this team had the know-how to get past it. I did not fail. Your security squads simply failed to react fast enough. You relied too much on my systems. Even you must know that computers can be tricked."

Even you. Oh, she hated how he said that, like she was inferior to him. Like she was not a princess. She held her tongue, though. The last thing she needed to do was insult Slade. "Anything else?" she asked, barely able to conceal her contempt.

"I will contact you if I have anything," he paused, smirking once more. She hated it when he didn't wear the metal mask. The cloth mask showed only too well how he thought of her. "...interesting to report." With that, he ended the transmission.

With a growl, Blackfire slammed her fist down into the computer console. She left a fist-shaped indention, but she did not care. Where was Red X? She needed somebody to yell at.

.....

Koriand'r sighed. She really was not in the mood to be interrupted, but she knew Lieutenant Vane, and Vane would never have bothered her if she didn't trust this Richard Grayson person. And, much as she hated to admit it, that meant he might even be innocent. Son't.

"What is this all about?" she asked.

"I don't know. But Grayson, er, Richard owes me a favor when all this is over."

"Knowing you, you already set that up," Koriand'r grinned.

Vane grinned back. "You know it."

A Tamaranean dressed all in black walked past them. He looked suspiciously familiar, but Koriand'r never jumped to conclusions. Even if he did look like.... Son't.

Koriand'r picked up the pace. Soon, she was in the air, and she burst through the door, ready to find the entire brig demolished. Instead, she heard a patient voice say, "Gok't, Koriand'r."

She spun around. "Lieutenant? You are still here?"

"Of course. Why would you think otherwise?" Vane asked.

"But I just saw him in the hallway!"

Vane looked confused, but realization soon dawned on her. "You mean Commander X?"

That one hit her like a Torvellan missile. "X? As in, Red X?"

"That's him," Vane nodded.

Koriand'r shook her head. Vane's sudden mastery of the human language, especially contractions, should have given it away. "X'Hal, you worked with Red X?"

"I worked for your sister. She was the leader while you were gone, and she told us to follow Commander X's orders," Vane shrugged.

Koriand'r sighed. Vane could sometimes take "duty to the crown" too literally. "Fine. But why did you not tell me sooner?"

"I did not -didn't- realize that you di-didn't know," Vane said. Okay, so maybe she had not mastered the human language.

"Excuse me, Princess," said that Azirian girl -Commander Raven, right?

Koriand'r turned. "It seems there is more to the story than my sister let me believe. This explains why the guards would not let me out of my room."

"Did you order them to let you out?" Vane asked, obviously surprised that someone would dare disobey orders from the crown.

"Yes. They are only loyal to my sister, unlike you, Vane," Koriand'r said. "Not that you are loyal to me, either."

Vane knelt before her princess. "Please accept my deepest apologies, Koriand'r."

Koriand'r took her friend's hand. "I will not punish you for doing what you thought was right, but I order you not to follow orders from my sister that you deem inappropriate."

"Koriand'r," Richard shouted, and both girls whirled around to face him. He smiled, then said, "Koriand'r, yi Riq's Tor'b sun bis piser'n ans tehr him'r juka." For the Azirian's benefit, he said, "Under the Oath of Tor'b, I request that you be juka, judge and jury."


	16. 16 Why Now? Why Her?

A/N: This chapter was fun to write and has some interesting . . . shipping moments . . .

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Not the characters or the setting or anything related to the Teen Titans or DC universe. I just own the story.

Chapter 16: Why Now? Why Her?

"He knows that custom?"

Vane winced, but she would not let Blackfire see her do so. "He knows many of our customs, Highness."

"Yes, but he asked in the native tongue, as well?"

Vane recognized that tone, and it wasn't annoyance anymore. It was curiosity, almost something else, but she couldn't quite place that one. Finally, she ventured, "He has studied our culture thoroughly, to the point where he could almost be mistaken as a native if not for his appearance."

"Really?" Blackfire asked, that tone coming back into her voice. Vane recognized it now; it was the tone the princess had used when Vane had reported on Red X's many skills. Surely, a princess like Blackfire would not think of trying to approach the very earthling she had earlier tried to frame!

Then again, Blackfire broke a lot of rules.

"Your Highness, we are going to be back home soon, surely you would like to set up a council to prepare for the trial?" Vane asked.

Blackfire shook her head. "No, X can take care of that. He knows how."

Vane groaned inwardly. Letting Commander X take control of something like this, no matter how well respected he may have been, was not a wise move. Humans still did not have the best respect on their planet, and letting one have such power would not bode well for Blackfire's popularity.

As if the princess had read her mind, Blackfire said, "It would probably be best if a Tamaranean accompanied him."

"Yes, it would," Vane said, hardly able to contain a sigh of relief.

"Which is why I'm putting you in charge of that particular duty."

"Excuse me?" Vane hated it when her voice squeaked, as it made her sound so weak, but it did, and she was worried. Why would Blackfire get rid of her correspondant?

There was only one answer, really, now that she thought about it: Blackfire wanted to see Lieutenant Grayson. Talk to him, get to know him.

Date him.

Vane wouldn't go so far as to call Blackfire a harlot, or any other such thing. She just liked to have her pick in everything, and that included men. Somehow, though, Vane didn't think Richard Grayson would be as receptive to Blackfire's flirtation as Red X had been.

Which was saying something, because X hardly tolerated the flirting at all; he preferred to play it cool with girls, and he liked to ask them first.

This could not go well.

.....

Blackfire could read Vane like a book, and she could tell that Vane didn't think well of her intentions. Vane could deal with it.

She hadn't only just begun to foster feelings. She had been intrigued by this security officer ever since Red X had told her about his abilities, and now, after she had heard about his people skills, so to say, he seemed even more of a perfect candidate for a boyfriend.

She waited until after her little sister left before she actually entered the dungeon. Not because she didn't want her sister to see her flirting, but because if both princesses paid enough attention to these prisoners, the guards might realize just how important these two officers were and ask for higher wages. The last thing she needed was another round of financial planning. It was so boring.

So, as little Koriand'r left, Blackfire made sure to wait a few more minutes for a change of the guard. It distracted her from her goal, of course, but then, she was patient enough. After all, she had to be patient to get the throne.

She peeked inside, putting on a face of pure innocence. She got a glare from the Azirian in the corner, but the lieutenant gave her a courteous nod. Well, at least he had some respect.

"Not too comfortable, huh?" she said, her voice the very quintessance of flirtation.

"We make due," the Azirian- what was her name? Raven?- said, her eyes narrowed.

"I wasn't talking to you," Blackfire said, although she made sure to keep all contempt out of her voice, hard as that was. She was flirting, after all.

"Why don't you get right to the point, then?" the security officer -why couldn't she remember his name? Grayson something. The name got lost when she looked at how well he was built. Oh, he was short and thin, alright, but that did not mean he was not well built. No, in fact, she saw the opposite.

"The point?" she asked innocently, although that particular pretense didn't seem to work with him. She remembered Red X saying something about his interrogating officers or something. He certainly had a detective's eye.

"You didn't come down here just to talk," he said.

Grayson! Richard Grayson! That was his name! Smiling to herself, Blackfire said, "Ah, but I did."

He raised an eyebrow. "You came all the way down here just to talk to criminals?"

"Not criminals. Scapegoats," she said.

He fell silent; but then, she had been expecting that. Finally, "I'm not sure I follow."

"Oh, come now, Mr. Grayson. I've heard so much about you. Don't disappoint me."

He pursed his lips in thought, but it was the Azirian who spoke up. "Commander X. He's a power hungry, manipulative little muffin."

Richard Grayson smiled at that, which made Blackfire more than a little jealous, but she reminded herself to stay nice. At least, until she could get him to herself. "Very well put, Miss Raven."

"Commander Raven, if you will."

If she hadn't been so keen to keep Richard Grayson on her good side, she would have had the Azirian thrown out. "Fine, Commander. You will then refer to me as Princess, deal?"

"Deal."

But Richard Grayson wasn't quite done with his train of thought. "If X pretended to catch the princess's kidnappers, he'd get promoted under Koriand'r, and if he got you the throne, you'd give him a promotion."

She flushed, "You make me sound like a bad guy, Lieutenant."

"I don't blame him, Princess."

"Well, I am not," Blackfire said, trying very hard to make a convincing pout, but that was always hard to do when she got mad. "I was willing to do almost anything to get the throne, yes, but I would not sell out my own sister!" She put emphasis on that last word, glancing at Richard. He was starting to loosen up. At last.

"But I'll bet you weren't exactly sad to see her go," Richard pointed out.

She glanced around as if to make sure no one was around, then said, "It is no secret that I do not like my sister. She is the youngest, and therefore, she does not have the right to rule. And yet, she rules, and, if I may be so bold, it would do her good to be humbled." She tossed her hair over her shoulder. "I didn't know Red X had kidnapped her. He simply reported that she went missing. Naturally, I assumed it was the Gordanians' fault."

"Or ours," Raven said.

She rolled her eyes. "Yes, I did suspect you, and when you managed to get yourself in so much trouble, it seemed so obvious, but then I discovered Red X's plot."

"How?" Richard asked.

She rubbed her temples; this was starting to get complicated. Why did she keep trying to flirt with the analytical ones? Sighing, she said, "It was quite by accident. He doesn't realize that I know his passwords. In fact, he thinks I'm still on his side."

"Then whose side are you on?"

"Honestly, Lieutenant," she said, and she thought she caught a gleam of annoyance in Raven's eyes, "you act like you're interrogating a murder suspect. That is what you do, I suppose, but you have got to learn to loosen up." A lightbulb went off in her head, and she said, "You know, maybe a nice walk around a Tamaranean ship would help your nerves."

Richard raised an eyebrow. "I don't think-"

But she cut him off. "Oh, I'm sure it's completely legal. I mean, my sister likes you enough, and if dear old Red X decides to notice that you're gone, I'll just report him for kidnapping and be done with him altogether."

"I'm not so sure that would be a good idea."

She was starting to get annoyed with this Richard Grayson and his distractions. "Oh, really?"

"I don't know what all you found out, Your Highness, but I have good reason to believe that your friend, Red X, is in league with one of the galaxy's most wanted criminals: Slade."

She let her eyes widen, "Slade?"

He nodded solemnly. Did he ever smile? "There might be more at stake here than just the safety of your royal family."

"I'll keep that in mind," she sighed, waving her hand dismissively. She already knew that. "In the meantime, though, I'll arrange to keep X busy, alright? Let's take a walk."

Richard and Raven exchanged glances, and Raven shrugged, "Well, I guess it wouldn't be too bad to see a warship like this."

Blackfire bit her lip, trying to come up with an excuse. "One of you needs to stay behind in case the guards decide to get wise."

The two of them exchanged another look, and Richard said, "I'm not sure if-"

"Then it's settled. Commander Raven," she made sure to sting the title and glare at the Azirian, "will stay behind, and you can tour the ship with me."

"I'm sure Commander Raven would benefit much more from such a tour," Richard insisted, to her utter astonishment. He was turning her down? "After all, I've seen diagrams and studied the basic structure, but she doesn't have the background I do."

"Which is exactly why I wanted to take you," she said, her patience starting to run thin. "You know so much more about our culture, so you would enjoy a walk much more. Besides, I don't think your Commander Raven likes me very much."

"You're just about as perceptive as your sister, aren't you?" Raven smirked.

"Oh, you think you know everything, don't you?" she shot back.

"Hey," Richard ventured.

But she didn't hear it. "You do realize who you're talking to, don't you?" she snapped, slipping into what Red X called her "princess" mode.

"Hey!" he shouted, and this time, she heard him.

"Sorry, what was that?" she asked, trying to act innocent.

"I think I can make my own decisions," he said, crossing his arms across his chest.

She grinned; she had been waiting for an opening like this. "Then it's settled. We're going on a walk."

He didn't have time to object; he was out of that cell before he could blink. If he did blink at all.

.......

He didn't mind stretching his legs or touring a ship. But that wasn't what they were doing.

She had insisted on dragging him all the way across the ship to her office and showing him the "magnificent accomodations".

"Of course," she said as he tried not to sink into the nearest chair, "everything at home is at least ten times better."

He tried to find something to focus his attention on, since she wouldn't stop staring at him. "What are these?" he asked at last, fingering the long swords.

"Just some practice weapons," she said, waving her hand dismissively. Obviously, she didn't appreciate his questions. So, why did she ask him on this walk, again?

"They're quite nice. I'm sure they're more than just practice swords," he said.

"To others, maybe."

He picked up one of them and was surprised at how light it seemed. "It handles very nicely," he said, taking a few practice swings.

She reached over and put her hand on his, gently prying his fingers off the hilt one by one. He was so surprised by this move that he didn't know what to do. As he stood there, still bewildered, she said, "Don't you ever take a break?"

"What do you mean?" She was starting to make him nervous.

"Oh, of course, I think it's wonderful that you're so dedicated, but, honestly, do you ever stop to," she paused, eyes twinkling, "smell the roses?"

"I've had plenty of time to do nothing in that cell," he pointed out. "I'm ready to stretch my legs." As much as it seemed awkward, he added, "Maybe go on that walk with you? I wouldn't mind the company."

She at least seemed a little happier about that, and suddenly, she was a gracious hostess. "Of course you want to walk around! What was I thinking, trying to coop you up in here? I don't know what I was thinking! Would you like to see our engineering section?"

"I've always been more interested in weapons technology, actually," he said, glad that was over.

A slight frown flashed across her face, but she quickly recovered. "I'm not sure I can pull enough strings to get you there, but you can see the next best thing. How about the training center?"

He grinned; now she was starting to speak his language. "I could use a workout."

For a minute there, it looked like she had rolled her eyes, but then, she was smiling again. "Come on, then, cutie," she said, and she took his arm in hers.

Cutie? When had he become cutie? "Okay," was all he could think to say. When was the last time he'd had to deal with something like this? Everyone back on his old ship had known not to bother him. Had known about Babs. Why now? Why her?

He grabbed the door for her, since, well, he was supposed to do that, and even if she was starting to scare him, she was still a princess, and he had to act accordingly. She smiled, then said, "Well, aren't you just all manners?"

"Diplomatic training."

For some reason, that made her roll her eyes again.

This was going to be one long walk.


	17. 17 Manipulation

Disclaimer: Same as always. I don't own anything related to Teen Titans or the DC Universe.

Chapter 17: Manipulation

"How fast can this thing go?" he asked, crouching down. As he looked through the plasma, his face looked suddenly skinnier, then bigger.

The engineer grinned. "Faster than your ships could hope to go, I'll tell you that."

"I don't know. It depends on the pilot, too," he said.

Blackfire sighed. Those two men had been talking for forever now! She had been sitting here, twirling her hair around her finger, and they were still nowhere near getting out of here. But every time she tried to speak up, one of them brought up some new topic. She was getting frustrated, and tired of being polite.

"Blackfire?"

She sighed, looking down at the communicator hooked onto her belt. "Hush! I'm working!"

"But-"

"It can wait!" She switched it off. Time to be a little less diplomatic.

"Come on. You two can have all the time you want to talk later. I'll arrange a play date," she said, grabbing Richard by the arm. "We've been in this same room for the entire tour! That's not much of a tour at all, and what's worse, it's poor form!"

"If you say so," he said, but he looked a little miffed. Let him be; she was miffed, too.

"How about a bite to eat?"

He raised an eyebrow. "I hate to burst your bubble, Your Highness, but most of your people still think I'm a criminal, and for you to dine with-"

"I didn't say we were going to dine with anyone else!" she sighed. "I eat alone, anyway."

"If you don't mind me saying so, Your Highness..."

"I probably do mind, so whatever it is, don't say it," she said. "I don't take criticisms very well, especially from scapegoats."

"Listen, Blackfire, I just think it would be better for a princess to be seen with her own people on occasion," he said, but he said it rather quickly, so she couldn't stop him.

"How do your commanding officers deal with you?" she sighed, but she couldn't help but smile at his persistence. It was very ... cute.

"That's why I'm in security," he said, then stopped walking. "You probably need to get back to work, Your Highness. Thank you for this walk, but I'm sure you have better things to do."

Better things? What, didn't he think flirting was a perfectly reasonable thing to do? She put her hands on her hips. "Look, Grayson, you're hot, and I asked you on this walk because I like you. Now stop being such a drag and have dinner with me!"

At that, he stopped short. Several different emotions ran across his face. One was calm expectancy, yet another was surprise. There was pleasure at her flattery, and horror at how explicit she was. Finally, he managed to say, "Maybe after we get this trial sorted out..."

She rolled her eyes. "You're no fun at all! You really need to liven up, have a little fun! No one is going to care if you go missing for just a few hours. The guards don't care about a couple criminals, especially since you're human. What harm could it possibly do to live a little?"

He looked down at the floor, the walls, anywhere but her. She tapped her foot in annoyance; she was starting to wonder if he was even worth the trouble. "Look, Your Highness..."

"My name is Komand'r, or Blackfire, if you prefer. You're so boring when you're trying to be diplomatic!" she sighed theatrically.

"Yes. Princess Blackfire, it's not that I don't appreciate-"

She stamped her foot. "No. You listen to me! I am so sick of waiting. I don't care what you call it when you talk to your little friends, but this is a date, and we are going to have dinner and you are going to pay attention to me!"

He seemed so surprised by this that he could not think of anything to say. Yet he would not move when she grabbed his hand and started to pull him towards the door. She sighed; yes, she had been way too forward and perhaps a little bratty, but how else was she supposed to get the message across? Being subtle wasn't working!

But X'Hal must have somehow decreed that she would never have even a dinner date with Richard Grayson, because just then, Red X walked through the door.

"Grayson. Are you really so desperate that you would try and flirt with the princess to get out of this?" he asked, but Blackfire could see that his eyes were on her.

"Not really," Richard said, his voice suddenly so cold she felt like shivering. "I'm not all that concerned with the outcome of the trial, actually, considering what Blackfire here has told me."

She bit her lip. He wasn't supposed to do that. And Red X was supposed to be with that Vane girl! She switched on her communicator, not caring that Red X was glaring daggers at her. "Vane!" she shouted.

Immediately, Vane's face appeared on the screen. "I am so sorry, Your Highness! I tried to distract him, but he's Commander X, and there's no stopping him when he decides to do something, and there was no excuse I could come up with for him not to visit you, since he knew you weren't scheduled to do anything today and I'm so sorry!"

Red X's eyes widened a bit in realization, but he covered up for it by saying, "You're getting better at contractions, Vane. Been practicing?"

Vane blushed, and her face disappeared off the screen.

"So, what's this about what you told him?" Red X asked, turning towards her.

She bit her lip, then said, "I told him what happened. I told him that you didn't tell me why she was missing, and that I assumed she had been captured by our enemies."

"I'll bet you also pinned this whole thing on me, didn't you?" he said, eyes narrowed. "That's quite loyal of you."

"What are you talking about? Both of you?" Richard asked.

Red X jerked his head in Blackfire's direction. "She's the one who orchestrated the whole thing. She doesn't have the heart to kill her sister, but she wanted the throne badly enough to let her sister be kidnaped. We were actually going to turn her over to the Gordanians once we started a war with Earth, and once we won, I'd be her Head of Security and have power over the greatest military force in the galaxy." He turned her way. "Only it doesn't work that way anymore, does it?"

She just stared at him as if he were from another universe. "What, in X'Hal's name, are you talking about?"

He narrowed his eyes. "Blame everything on me? I don't think so, Blackfire. I don't care what kind of connections you have; if you go back on your word to me, I get even. You're just going to have to learn the hard way."

"Just try it, X!" she shouted. At this point, she had completely forgotten about Richard Grayson. "No one will believe you, especially since you are not Tamaranean!"

He shrugged. "What makes you think I'll stake everything on this trial you're pulling? I leave myself other options." He turned to Richard. "Come on, kid, you better get back to your little cell or people might start to suspect something."

Much as Richard tried to pretend he wasn't relieved, Blackfire could see it in his posture, and it annoyed her. Maybe he wasn't worth the attention she had been giving him. Fine then, she'd just pull several strings and make sure the trial didn't go well for him.

All she had to do was convince her dear little sister that Richard Grayson was evil and manipulative. That wouldn't take much, now would it?

As Red X walked off, she heard him say, "Much as I hate to admit it, looks like we're on the same side, Grayson."

"It looks that way," Richard agreed.

Then, Red X looked back at her. He narrowed his eyes, then said, "As for you, partner, I certainly hope you have a good standing with Slade, because you're going to need his help. No one double crosses me."

Suddenly, this didn't look as easy. Vane had told her about Richard, and she knew what X was capable of. The two of them combined just might be enough to stop her. But she pushed such thoughts out of her mind. She couldn't afford to doubt herself. Not when she was so close to fixing this huge mistake.

......

Koriand'r sighed in relief when she stepped out of the ship. It had been so long since her feet had been on Tamaranean soil, and she missed the feeling of being home. She shut the cheers of her people out of her mind as she enjoyed this feeling, but she made sure to smile and wave and even managed a short speech about how much she had missed Tamaran, just to please them.

Almost immediately, though, her thoughts went to the task at hand: judging this trial. She knew that Victor and Gar were innocent. She couldn't quite explain how she knew that, but something told her to trust them. Call it intuition. But she wasn't so sure about that Richard Grayson, and she especially wasn't sure about Commander Raven. That Azirian girl was just a little too high strung.

Yet it had been so obvious when she talked to Richard. It had been so obvious that she had been tricked, that her sister hadn't told her the truth, that a man named Red X really did exist and had been her kidnapper. If only Vane would fess up, but the gutless excuse for a warrior refused to choose sides. When would she see that she was only aggravating both sisters?

"Wow," said a male voice behind her, and she turned to see Victor come out of the ship, his eyes wide as he took in her beautiful home planet. "It's breathtaking."

She nodded, happy that he thought so. So many earthlings had come here and commented on something trivial, like a lack of trees or something. Few appreciated just how beautiful her home was, and this only made her like Victor even more.

"It's like a desert," said a higher pitched voice, obviously Gar's. Sure enough, a little green head popped out from behind Victor, eyes wide.

She sighed; well, at least Victor appreciated it. With a wide, sweeping gesture, she said, "Welcome to Tamaran."

After a long moment of silence, Victor tentatively said, "Koriand'r, I don't want to rush you, but don't you think it would be best if we started this trial? I don't think Robin and Raven are going to enjoy Tamaran as it should be enjoyed from a cell."

She sighed, but she knew he was right. The sooner they sorted things out, the sooner she would be able to decide who to trust. She didn't like not knowing whether her sister was worthy of her trust, and she wanted to be rid of that feeling as soon as possible. It had not yet registered in her mind that Blackfire might play a big part. She knew her sister was not completely honest, but she would never accuse her of anything horrible like kidnapping. "Yes, let us get started."

As if on cue, Vane appeared, her eyes wide. "Oh!" she gasped when she saw Koriand'r. "There you are!"

"Were you looking for me?"

Vane shook her head. "I wasn't, but I'm glad I ran into you." Her speech was relaxed, but her tone told Koriand'r all she needed to know.

"What happened?"

Vane took a deep breath, then opened her mouth to speak. But no words came out. She shook her head. "I can't betray your sister's confidence."

"Did she order you to silence?" she asked. "Remember, I gave you permission to disregard her orders if they proved too thoughtless."

"No; I just don't want to tell you about her personal life," Vane said quietly. "I wish I could, though. It's quite the story."

The four of them started walking, and Koriand'r held Vane back so that Victor and Gar would stray ahead of them. "Vane, I need you to promise me something," she said.

"Anything, Highness."

"You had better mean that," she said, narrowing her eyes.

"What do you mean?"

"Vane, you are going to have to choose a side if it is proven that my sister was part of my kidnapping. I know it is highly unlikely, but if she is, I need you to be on my side. I need to know that I can trust you."

"I cannot choose sides," Vane said, shaking her head slowly.

"Then do not choose sides!" she shouted. "Just give me your word, as a warrior, that you will be truthful at the trial."

Vane fell silent, her eyes on the ground.

"Your word, Vane!"

After several long minutes, Vane looked up at Koriand'r, eyes betraying her fear. "Yes, Highness, I give you my word, as a warrior, that I will answer all questions asked of me at the trial truthfully."

"Good," Koriand'r said, but she secretly wondered if Vane would really keep such a promise.

......

"So, how'd the walk go?" she asked as he walked into the room. But her smile died away when she saw who was with him. "Red X?"

Strangely, Richard grinned at that. "It's okay, Raven. He's on our side."

"I don't follow," she said, looking from one boy to the other.

"Blackfire betrayed him. She tried to tell me that he was behind the whole thing," he explained.

"And the truth is?" she asked, glad that they were finally getting somewhere.

Red X grinned. "The truth is, I was only following orders. There's a plus side to having gained the trust of a princess. She made me a warrior of Tamaran, and so I can claim to have acted under her orders."

"Did you?" Raven asked, and she noticed, with relief, that Richard also narrowed his eyes at that point.

"No; I don't take orders."

"You sure acted the part," Richard noted.

Red X shrugged. "Okay, so I had to take orders from her sometimes to keep up my good standing. But I was going to get a huge profit from this; I wouldn't just kidnap the princess for no reason."

Richard nodded. "I don't doubt that Red X can find some loophole or other to buy himself enough time to get out."

"And you're okay with that?" Raven asked, surprised.

Richard pursed his lips, looked at Red X, then said, "No. I'm not. But I can't focus on two things at once, and we don't have the jurisdiction to arrest him. Technically, the Tamaranean government has those rights."

"So we're just going to work with a criminal?"

Richard flinched at that, and Raven remembered the experience he had shown her earlier. "We're enlisting his help. We might not need it, but we have to convince Koriand'r that her sister kidnapped her. It won't be easy, so we probably will need all the help we can get."

She crossed her arms across her chest. "This is just getting more and more complicated, isn't it?"

"I'm sure we'll figure it all out once we get the trial started," he said with a reassuring smile.

Unfortunately, that didn't work. She was an empath; she felt his worry, guilt, and annoyance. This wouldn't go as swimmingly as he said it would.


	18. 18 Mailed With Blackness

Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Teen Titans or the DC universe.

Chapter 18: Mailed With Blackness

Lieutenant Grayson was absolutely, positively, over-the-top paranoid where Slade was concerned.

Of course, Raven could hardly blame him. She remembered with a sigh the sound of that dark, sinister voice whispering in Richard's ear, the way his entire mind pulsated with rage and hatred as he was powerless to save Babs. He had every right to be upset. But did he have to drag her into it, too?

She should be grateful, really, that he even noticed the cameras at all. The moment Red X mentioned Slade, Richard had tensed up and shushed them both. After ten minutes of unbearable silence -- it was not that she hated silence; she hated the tension that attacked her from the general direction of Richard's mind -- he announced, "Okay, it's safe to talk."

But it wasn't. He said that because he did not want Slade to know he found the hidden cameras. And, somehow, Red X knew, too. Those two were eerily similar, and sometimes she could actually imagine Richard moonlighting as a characer like Red X. But Richard cared about others besides himself, and that made him different.

She had not understood, of course, had missed the undercurrent of warning in his thoughts. Maybe it was because he was always faintly worried, maybe she was distracted by Red X's sudden defection. Maybe it was something else, something about his eyes, but that was ridiculous. Either way, she had babbled on about how they could use Red X's knowledge of the ship to stop Blackfire. It was the scathing, eat-dirt look from Richard about halfway through her monologue that got her to shut up. She could not stand it when he looked at her like that.

She still did not understand what happened, but, somehow, Richard and Red X conceived a plan without actually saying anything. It was like their own language, and the only things she could discern from the conversation were the vague feelings of unease from Richard and the desire to get this over with from Red X.

"I think I'll collect my money from the princess and be on my way," Red X smiled. "There's no real reason for me to be dragged any deeper into this."

"And Commander Raven and myself will try to win over Koriand'r's confidence. If she's acting as juka, we should win."

"Good luck, kid. Try not to flirt with any more princesses." And with that, Red X had vanished.

"So, are you going to tell me what's going on, or are you going to make me ask?"

That was when she learned about the camera. The movement was so slight, so smooth, that she wondered if it was deliberate at first. but, on an impulse, she followed his gaze to the corner of the wall. She did not see anything, but she knew something was wrong. He saw something, obviously. So, she reached out with her powers, feeling every inch of the room, and she realized that the walls were littered with technology. Bugs, cameras, the works. How had he known?

"It's impossible to work with him!" he shouted, sounding exasperated, but she could sense his excitement.

"He doesn't care about anyone but himself."

"You got that right." This time, there was no faking the bitterness in his tone.

"So, are we really going to wait for the trial?"

"You and I both know there's not going to be a trial."

"Come again?" This was news to her. Everything he had done so far suggested preparation for a trial. He had even asked Koriand'r to be juka!

"Blackfire knows she's in over her head. Maybe before she tried to . . . umm . . . walk with me . . . she would have let us have a semblance of a trial. But she knows we're a threat to her as long as we're alive, since we know the truth now."

"I don't know," she grumbled, "she seemed more than willing to keep _you _alive."

"Jealous?" he grinned.

"You wish."

"That's what I thought."

"Besides," she realized suddenly, "if we go through the trial, Slade's going to come up."

He nodded, but this time, he did not meet her eyes, "If X knew, he told Blackfire, and she'd be sure to bring that up at a trial. With something like that on your record, it's hard for anyone to think you're innocent."

Her hand really wanted to place itself on his shoulder, but she told it not to. "So, what are we really going to do?"

He held up a small device, "Stole this from X."

"Pickpocketing, Richard? Really?"

"Hey, just because I don't do it doesn't mean I don't know how."

And he knew how. Boy, did he know how. He knew how to lie, steal, cheat, and hurt people, and she saw how he wished he never learned those . . . _skills_.

Raven finally understood. Richard was protecting X, keeping Slade in the dark. But, if Richard was protecting him, what was Red X really doing? Stupid cameras and bugs. If it weren't for them, she could know.

TTTTTTT

She cringed. And cringed and cringed and cringed.

She should answer the call. It was _not _a good idea to keep Slade waiting. But she really, really wanted to avoid him. But it was better to be yelled at than to end up dead.

Finally, she decided to push the button, and she cringed again.

"I hope you're satisfied with yourself."

"I-"

"That was the worst bungling I've seen in my entire life. It's clear you can't even handle something as simple as keeping prisoners in the brig."

"I-"

"I can't have anyone knowing about this. It would ruin my plans. And it's clear to me that you can't handle this on your own."

"What are you-"

"I'll be in the docking bay within the hour. Do you think you could manage to at least get yourself there?"

She narrowed her eyes; that was no way to talk to a princess! "I can manage," she said tersely.

"Good girl."

The transmission ended, and she looked around the room for something to throw. That pen would do. And it left such a satisfying little dent in the wall.

The door opened and light streamed into her dark room. "I thought I told you I didn't want to be bothered, Vane," she sighed.

"Maybe you should turn around and see who comes in the door before you talk to them."

She growled, her eyes glowing purple, "X. What are you doing here?"

"Hey, hey," he laughed, raising his hands defensively. "I'm just here for the money you owe me. I'll be on my way after that. My work here is done, and I don't feel like sticking around to see how much more trouble you can get yourself into."

She growled; his words hit a little too close to home, especially after she had just been lectured by Slade. But, if it got rid of X, she'd do it. "Here," she sighed, tossing him the gems. "That's everything. And if it's not enough, deal with it, or I'll have the guards escort you out."

"Yeah right. You and I both know I could avoid them if I wanted to," he laughed as he grabbed the gems and counted them. They disappeared into a hidden pocket somewhere. "So, how'd Slade take the news?"

She whirled around, eyes glowing. "You filthy little eavesdropper!"

"Not my fault if I can hear you while I'm waiting patiently outside," he sneered.

She was done with him, done with putting up with his snide comments. "Shut up!" She beamed him with a starbolt, knocking him into a wall. He grunted when he hit the side, then stood up and launched himself at her. She moved to the side to avoid him, but he swung himself around at the last minute and grabbed her upper arm.

"Not angry, are we, Your Majesty?"

She growled and blasted him with another starbolt, and he went crashing to the floor. But instead of groaning, he just laughed, then teleported away.

She was so busy fuming at him that she did not notice the listening device carefully planted just below her armband.

TTTTTTTT

The device he stole from Red X shorted out listening devices. Slade could still see what they were doing, but he couldn't hear them.

"Princess Koriand'r," he said with a deep bow, "thank you for taking the time out of your day to come and see us."

She crossed her arms, appraising them, but she gave a curt nod, "I wish to ask you some questions, and I demand that you answer truthfully, as is your duty under the Oath of Tor'b."

"Agreed."

"And you know the penalty for lying under the oath?"

He glanced over at Raven, who didn't know. But maybe it was better that way. After all, he was the only one under the Oath, so she was not bound to its consequences. "I'm aware."

"Then I must know who this Slade is."

His eyes widened in surprise; how did she know?

"My sister has told me how you worked for him, and my preliminary research has shown him to be a very evil man."

He balled his hands into fists; he was going to kill Blackfire. "Slade," he said, practically spitting the name out, "is a manipulative criminal mastermind. He is an expert in blackmail and psychology."

"And you expect that answer to satisfy me?"

His heart sank. He wanted so badly to avoid any discussion of this particular incident.

"Need I remind you of the conditions of the Oath?"

He swallowed, "He captured my entire security team and threatened their lives if I didn't do what he asked."

"So, he mailed you with blackness?"

If they had not been talking about Slade, if the princess's support was not absolutely essential to resolving this dispute without causing an all-out war between Tamaran and Earth, he would have laughed. "Yeah. He blackmailed me."

"And you stole for him and traded secrets?"

"Yes."

"You betrayed your fellow officers?"

He cringed, "Yeah."

Her eyes softened, "And you are deeply regretful for your actions." It was not a question, but a statement of fact. He knew it was written all over his face.

"Yes."

"Well, at least I know you are not lying to me, Lieutenant," the princess said, and a small smile played at the corner of her lips. "I appreciate your honesty."

He sighed, "Yeah. You're welcome."

"Now, I must know how you found me in the cave of higridilium."


	19. 19 Trust

Disclaimer: As usual, I own nothing related to Teen Titans, nor do I own anything related to the DC universe.

Chapter 19: Trust

"Are you telepathic?"

"No."

"What about sign language?"

"I know it, but no."

"Some kind of mental bond?"

"No way!" That was a more vehement no, since he would hate having his mind anywhere near Red X's.

She sighed; she was dying to figure out how he and Red X could _possibly _come up with a plan without speaking a word to each other -- or at least, not a word that sounded remotely like a plan. "Okay, then you planned it all in the hallway."

"There are cameras out there, too."

"It's got to be telepathy, then."

"You're overthinking it."

She glared at him, "You're enjoying keeping me in the dark, aren't you?"

"Why, Raven, what makes you think that?" She knew he was play-acting, because she had seen him actually acting, when it actually mattered, and he could manage much better than that. Somehow, that did not make her feel any better.

She sighed, "I'm overthinking it?"

"Yep."

She put her fingers to her head, massaging her temples. Not that the massage would help her think any better, but it definitely relieved the headache he was giving her. "How long did you say it would be before Koriand'r gets back here?"

"Knowing Cyborg, he'll come up with some excuse to come back and visit -- if he gets my message, of course."

"I still don't see how telling Koriand'r to tell Cyborg that you can't wait to get out of there and celebrate a successful mission with your traditional breakfast-for-dinner is a code."

"It's telepathy, remember?"

"I knew it," she chuckled, even though she knew he was lying.

"It's kind of an inside joke. Captain Wayne was always needling us about eating waffles for dinner -- which was not my idea, by the way; Cyborg is definitely the one with the breakfast addiction -- and it sort of became an ongoing thing. And then when we started going on missions together, it became our code. Breakfast-for-dinner means 'come find me; I'm in trouble'."

"Complicated," she muttered.

"Yeah, well, things tend to get complicated when you're friends with Cyborg," he grinned.

"Don't I know it," she muttered. After all, that ridiculous engineer was the one who made her actually talk to Lieutenant Grayson, and now that they were talking to each other, she found herself more and more intrigued by him.

She had to remind herself that this interest was purely for his own benefit. He had such a hard time in the past, so many bad memories that he was trying to push aside. For all his bravado, he was strangely . . . vulnerable, if she dared put that word and Lieutenant Grayson in the same sentence. And that was interesting, a new part of the human psyche that she wanted to explore. It was not attraction, just fascination.

Suddenly, she realized that neither of them had spoken a word for what Ensign Logan would consider enough time to call it "awkward silence." But it was nice. They were not needling each other, not picking at each other's nerves. He was not asking questions about her powers, and she learned not to ask about his past. And the silence was not awkward -- it was strangely calming.

When she looked over at him, he was still staring intently at the device he "stole" from Red X. It was tracking Blackfire's every move, and she knew he was just waiting for her to get to the docking bay to meet Slade.

Slade. He was the cause of the anxiety that wrapped itself all around the lieutenant. He was the reason his blue eyes refused to blink, refused to look away for even one second, just in case Slade arrived in that one second. She only knew half of the story, so she did not completely understand his intense hatred. But she knew enough to know that it was not a good idea to ask him about it, because every time he remembered it, his hatred deepened.

She was just interested to see what would happen when Richard saw Slade again, face-to-face. It was not going to pretty -- for either one of them.

TTTTTTTT

"Yo, Robin! Long time no see!" he grinned easily. He had not even told Beast Boy what the message meant, since he didn't trust the little changeling to keep his mouth shut.

"Back at you, Cyborg," Robin smiled back -- he was mostly smiling at hearing his nickname again. Cyborg shook his head; it was so weird to hear the others refer to the guy as "Richard". Richard didn't exist. There was only Robin -- bold, determined, slightly obsessive, and his best friend. Richard was just a name he let other people call him -- a different identity.

"Your friend was most insistent that he come visit you," Koriand'r said with a slight smile. "It is good to see that you two are so close."

"Yeah, he practically pushed us out the door," Beast Boy grumbled.

Cyborg liked the name Beast Boy. BB. It was funny, really; he could come up with a nickname one day, then shorten it again the next day. Wasn't that the point of a nickname? To shorten another name? But then, Beast Boy was longer than _Garfield_, so maybe that worked, somehow. Plus, he was proud of coming up with it himself. He liked to make other people happy, liked to see them smile, and the idea of a name that was not Garfield made Beast Boy smile _constantly_.

"Your timing couldn't be better, Cyborg," Robin smiled. But it was a different kind of smile. It was the kind of play-acting smile Robin wore back before he was Robin. Back when Babs was around. Back when he was working for Slade. It was the play-acting smile that meant something was really, _really_ wrong, but he couldn't say anything about it.

"Yeah, well, I'm just lucky like that," he grumbled, his good mood dying in his throat. _Yeah, lucky. Lucky that my best friend attracts psychopaths like flies_.

"What is he talking about?" Koriand'r asked Beast Boy in a stage whisper.

"I'm talking about this," Robin said, holding up some kind of tracking device. _How _did he manage to get a hold of that? Never mind; he didn't actually want to know.

"That is a listening deivce, correct?"

"Exactly. I've modified it to broadcast a signal I can track."

Koriand'r cocked her head to one side, "And who are you tracking?"

"Your sister."

If this bothered Koriand'r, the only indication of it was the slight tensing of her muscles. "It is quite bold of you to tell me so plainly."

"I'm not going to lie to you."

"That much I have seen," she nodded, and Cyborg wondered what had happened. As far as he could tell, the princess wasn't one to bend easily, and she had been dead set on basically executing Robin and Raven for her kidnapping. Why the change of heart?

"When I found out Red X was working for Slade --"

"The same Slade for whom you once worked?"

Cyborg braced himself for the incoming explosion, but, surprisingly, it never came. Wait, Robin wasn't exploding at the mere _mention _of Slade? He pinched himself; no, not dreaming.

"The very same. And that's why I was worried enough to track a princess of Tamaran. I realize that this is a breach of protocol, and I take full responsibility for my actions, but I felt it was a necessary precaution."

Koriand'r was looking at him differently now. Her eyes stopped narrowing every time she was forced to talk to him, and she acted like she actually _wanted _to talk to him, even. "From what I have heard of Slade, it was a smart move."

"Thanks."

"Are you attempting to protect my sister from Red X?"

"No. From Slade."

Koriand'r studied him for a moment, then asked simply, "Slade?"

Robin pushed a button on the listening device, smiling grimly.

"I'll be in the docking bay within the hour," said the voice on the other end of the listening device.

"I set it up to record any transmissions coming in or out of the ship," he explained. He looked over his shoulder at Commander Raven. "Red X doesn't realize he was recording everything. He thought he was just tracking Blackfire. I modified the frequencies."

"Wait. Red X?" Beast Boy repeated. "You guys were working with him?"

"In a manner of speaking," Raven said, her eyes flashing dangerously. "Richard stole Red X's technology while he was here, since Red X was getting ready to leave, anyway."

It was good to hear Raven calling Robin by his first name, and he wondered when they would progress to his nickname. He would probably let her call him Robin if she tried it. It was just getting her to try it that presented a problem.

Besides, Cyborg could tell Raven would have her hands more than full from here on out. Koriand'r was finally taking notice of Robin, and the way she looked at him, she had decided that, yes, he was a warrior, and yes, he was worthy of her notice. And, boy, was she noticing him.

TTTTTTTT

"Blackfire doesn't realize what she's getting into. I don't think she knows what Slade can do."

She had never seen someone so concerned about her sister. No one was ever concerned about Blackfire, because Blackfire always got herself into trouble, and she always got herself out. And after Blackfire threw him in jail, then flirted with him -- yes, she knew about that disastrous episode; rumors flew around the ship like Zyrgonian flyrats -- she would not expect him to care what happened to her.

She knew he was telling the truth about everything. He told her about Slade, he told her about finding her in the cave; he even told her about going to the doctor. That uppity Azirian tried to break in at that point and explain how hard it was to get him to the hospital, but she was not interested.

In many ways, he was a Tamaranean warrior. Determined, fearless, and brave, unwilling to show weakness, and willing to take risks. And, she had to admit, she saw how Blackfire could feel attracted to him. He was quite handsome.

But there was that stupid Azirian to consider. Maybe he did not notice it, but Koriand'r knew jealousy when she saw it. She was not stupid.

"You are sure that Slade himself is coming?" she asked.

"Not entirely," he said quietly.

"Who else could it be?" the changeling ensign asked. What did they call him? Yes, Beast Boy.

Lieutenant Grayson -- Robin -- was silent, his eyes narrowed. "Let's just get there before we have to find out."

She flew ahead so that she could hover next to him. "Robin?"

The nickname seemed to startle him, but he hid it well. Only the slight stiffening in his muscles gave it away, and she would not have noticed that if she were not, well, _noticing _the muscles themselves, to be quite honest. "Yes, Princess?"

She did not want him to call her by her rank. After all, she finally trusted him, and he let her call him by a -- what did Cyborg call it? Nickname? "I must ask of you two things."

"Shoot."

"First, I must ask that you not harm my sister. As you have explained, she does not understand the danger she is in. Second, I must ask that you call me by my name as translated into your language, since you do so for my sister. Please, call me Starfire."

"Starfire," he repeated, then smiled. "Well, okay then."

And don't think she didn't notice that Azirian absolutely _seething _in the corner. Well, she could deal with it. Koriand'r always got what she wanted.


	20. 20 Grayson in Tow

Disclaimer: I own nothing related to Teen Titans or the DC universe.

Chapter 19: Grayson in Tow

"So, X isn't going to meet us there?" she whispered under her breath so that only he could hear.

He shook his head, one corner of his mouth turned up in an almost-smile, "He only looks out for himself. I don't think he's much of the hero type."

"Sorta wish he was coming, though," she sighed, then laughed inwardly at his puzzled expression. "I would have liked to see Blackfire's face when he quit her little operation." She shook her head; why else would she want him to come along? She almost thought maybe he was a little jealous that she wanted him there, but jealousy and Richard Grayson just didn't go together. They just didn't.

"I'm sure she was properly mortified."

They finally reached the docking bay, but no one was there yet. Of course no one was there; Richard made sure they arrived early so they could hide away. He stole away near one of the service entrances behind some equipment, while Cyborg and Ensign Logan hid in the cockpit of the nearest ship. The princess, meanwhile, was busy ordering the guards to ignore their screens until they were hidden. Raven could only hope that those guards were not as bad at following orders as Vane was.

She decided she could probably hide with Richard for a while, at least until Slade actually arrived. At that point, she would have to phase into something. Even the idea of doing that made her shiver, but she knew it was probably necessary. There was always the chance that someone would see them, that Blackfire would order a thorough search. In fact, Richard was counting on that. It was why he brought Cyborg along. Because, obviously, there was no way for the big guy to hide from a thorough sweep.

Vane walked into the docking bay moments later, then glanced around to make sure the area was secure. She murmured something to the guards, but all Raven could tell from Vane's general feelings was distrust and worry. Well, if Vane had figured out that Slade was coming, she had every right to be nervous.

The guards nodded at Vane, then started sweeping the area. This was exactly what Richard was counting on. He smiled at her; this couldn't have gone better if he orchestrated it himself.

The guards started checking behind the ships and boxes, and she mentally prepared herself to phase away, but one of the guards cried out, "The cockpit!"

All of the guards immediately fired up their starbolts, surrounding the ship that hid Cyborg and Logan. Of course, the guards couldn't actually see Logan; he changed into a fly or a beetle or something like that long ago. They just saw a half-human cyborg, grinning ruefully.

"I just wanted to see how your hyperdrive propulsion systems compared to ours," he smiled innocently. No one noticed a little green fly perch on the ceiling.

Vane strolled over to Cyborg's side, "Princess Blackfire gave strict orders that no one was to be in this area without her permission."

"And I was supposed to know about this how? It's not like I can speak Tamaranean. I mean, I sort of can, since I know the basics. But it's not like I was listening for orders, since this isn't my ship or anything like that."

"Ignorance does not excuse you. The princess's orders must be obeyed. Besides, I am certain you don't have permission to be here."

"Yeah, probably not," Cyborg grinned. "But I couldn't resist, y'know?"

"I must ask you to return to your room. If you refuse, I will have you dragged there."

Cyborg shrugged, "Yeah, yeah. I'm going."

Raven looked to her left, but Richard was no longer crouching beside her. She glanced around, wondering where he went, then saw him crouched by the door near where Vane stood. He winked at her when she caught his eye, and she figured that was the signal to attack. Because there was no other possible reason for Richard Grayson to wink at her.

Ensign Logan must have seen the signal, too, because he dropped down from the ceiling, suddenly an elephant instead of a fly. He knocked three of the five guards out with that move, then changed quickly into a mouse to avoid incoming starbolts.

It was Raven's turn to help out, and she focused her energy on the door. It shut quickly, trapping the other two guards -- and Vane -- inside the docking bay.

"Boo-yah!" Cyborg shouted from somewhere beyond her field of vision -- which, at the moment, had decided to confine itself to Richard Grayson. The other two guards fell to the ground, stunned momentarily.

Raven glanced over her shoulder to see that Richard had Vane's attention, so they could safely hide the guards. Cyborg administered some kind of sedative to them, then loaded them into the cockpit. (He had picked that particular hiding spot so he could activate the ship's cloaking abilities. Anyone doing a bioscan of the area would not detect the extra bodies.) "Turn around," he ordered her.

It was strange to hear an order coming from Cyborg, since she was pretty sure he didn't bark even when he was in charge. But she figured it was probably necessary, since Cyborg was going to steal the guards' uniforms, and she was a _girl_.

TTTTTTTT

"What are you doing out of your cell?" she barked, charging up a starbolt.

"Relax, Vane. We're here with Koriand'r."

She narrowed her eyes, "I highly doubt that. The princess would not let _that _loose." She pointed at the Azirian, who, for some reason, was staring in their direction. So, Vane made a face at the Azirian until she turned away.

"I'm sure Commander Raven appreciates being referred to as 'that'," he said, smirking softly.

"That does not matter," she said, shaking her short hair so that it lightly brushed her chin. "I do not believe you, and you will return to your cell at once before I make you."

"Hey," he said, and something lit up in his eyes, "didn't you say you wanted to spar with me when I got out?"

"I did say that, but I didn't mean-"

"Well, I'm out."

She narrowed her eyes, "You think you have everything all figured out."

"I usually have a pretty good grip on my life, yeah."

Feeling the righteous anger course through her body, she fired up her starbolts, "Well, then, human, I shall have to put a stop to your high-mindedness."

He laughed, "You know, you're the second woman to say that to me. But Commander Raven said she was going to deflate my ego."

Fed up with his constant smirking when she was obviously not in the mood to deal with him, she fired a starbolt at him, but he jumped out of the way at the last moment. She had to admit that at least his reflexes were good.

He pulled his fist back for a swift uppercut, but she saw the movement and grabbed his wrist, wrenching his arm behind him. Too easy.

But instead of wincing in pain, he just smiled -- still cocky -- and bent over, throwing her over his back. She was so surprised by the maneuver that she let go of his arm, and she clattered to the floor. She rubbed her head and looked up to see him massaging his arm. At least she had wounded him. Maybe this would not be as easy as she thought it would be.

"We really are working with the princess," he said, dodging her punch and returning with one of his own, which she dodged as well.

"I do not believe you," she said. It was hard to think about speaking in contractions when she was fighting him. Which was strange, since she usually had such a clear head in battle. And this should not have been a battle that required thought. Instead, it should have been an easy battle -- she should easily have taken down the puny human.

He leaped nimbly on top of a stack of boxes, and she flew straight towards him, intending to knock him off his perch. But, at the last second, he jumped out of the way, revealing a bigger stack of boxes behind him. She was going too fast to stop, and she slammed into them. What was in them? Something metal, surely; her head was ringing.

She heard a yell coming from somewhere above her, and she rolled out of the way just before a fist punched into the ground where her head used to be. He clenched and unclenched his fist, restoring feeling to his fingers after their collision with the ground, while she shook her head, trying to clear the cobwebs.

"I just need to borrow a guard's uniform for an hour or two. I'll give it back," he said. But he did not sound so cocky and confident anymore. Instead, he sounded winded. Well, at least she was tiring him out, even if he was having the same effect on her.

"I am not sure I even want to know what you plan to do with that."

"If you would stop attacking me, you might see," he grinned, throwing a punch that grazed her chin, even though she tried to dodge it.

"I thought we were sparring," she shot back.

"You got me there."

She fired several starbolts in rapid succession at the human, and he was able to dodge most of them. But he did not dodge them all, and one hit him squarely in the stomach. He fell to his knees with a groan, clutching his stomach.

"It seems you are not as strong as you thought you were," she chuckled.

Suddenly, he stood up. She was not expecting it, and the roundhouse kick to her chin sent her flying backwards. She crashed into another stack of boxes, but these did not have the metal-something inside of them, so she only saw stars for a few seconds. Of course, in a match like this, a few seconds could be vital, and she knew that. Expecting an attack any minute, she pushed herself to her knees and listened for the telltale footsteps -- something that would alert her to his position while she was still unable to see straight.

She heard a slight shuffle to her left, and she shot a starbolt in that general direction. But now that her vision was clearing, she could see that he was not there. Instead, she felt a boot on her lower back, shoving her to the side so that she rolled onto her back. In an instant, he knelt down and held his hand to her throat. "If I had starbolts, you'd have surrendered by now," he said simply.

She knew he was right. If he had starbolts, he would have been holding one up to her face. If he had a sword, even, he would have won. But he had no weapons whatsoever, only his wits and his training, yet he still managed to best her. She could easily win the fight, since he would never be able to truly "win" without either knocking her out or killing her, but it would not be honorable. "I am surprised you were not born a Tamaranean," she said, lowering her hands in a gesture of defeat. "Not many people are able to catch me off-guard like that."

"I'm good at my job," he shrugged, then offered her his hand up.

"Yo, Robin!" The engineer shouted from across the docking bay. He was wearing a Tamaranean uniform, as were two others that had, suspiciously, the same basic shape as the Azirian and the changeling. "This isn't the time to make new friends, man."

"What is that supposed to mean?" she asked, taking his hand to stand up again.

He sighed, "It means he doesn't trust you to keep our secret."

She was insulted, "Have I not proven to be a warrior of honor?"

He nodded, "Of course you have. Our sparring has shown me that. But the others do not understand customs. You must understand, we are suspicious of anything having to do with Slade in general, and-"

"Slade?"

"That's what I said."

"The notorious villain?"

"The very same."

"The one Blackfire said you worked for?"

He narrowed his eyes in annoyance, "Does everyone on this blasted ship know about that?"

"Only those who are often in her presence at the same time as Commander X."

He sighed, "Well, yeah. Same Slade."

"And he is coming here? Why? Are you-"

"If you dare suggest I'm working with him again, I swear I will find a weapon somewhere around here and finish what I started in our little sparring exercise," he growled.

TTTTTTT

Blackfire had to admit that she did not expect Vane to lose the match. But it was still so very entertaining to watch.

She watched as Grayson helped Vane to her feet, then strolled right in before he could do anything else destructive. The three guards Vane had brought with her snapped to attention, bringing their swords to stand in front of them.

"Vane, I'm surprised at you," she purred, enjoying the shocked look on Grayson's face. He was so _hot_ when he had no idea what was going on.

"My apologies, Highness," Vane muttered quickly.

She just shrugged, "Don't apologize for being honorable, Vane. I'm just glad you apprehended him before he could interfere with my plans."

"My pleasure, Highness."

"Depends on what your definition of apprehended is," Grayson said darkly, though, when he saw the gun in her hands, he checked himself. Finally, he was paying attention to her!

"Why don't you go check on his friends and make sure they don't try anything similar?"

"But they are-"

Blackfire glared at Vane, "Why are you still standing there when I just gave you an order?"

"Yes, Highness," Vane said, glancing at Grayson once more before scampering away.

Blackfire sighed, glad to be rid of Vane. After all, it was always hard to tell whose side Vane was on. For that reason, Blackfire had not told her about Slade. The other warriors knew, but they were all completely loyal to her, disgusted that the eldest daughter was not allowed the honor of the throne. Now that Vane was gone, she could focus her attention on Grayson, anyway. She raised the gun to point it carelessly at his heart. And, for good measure, she held a starbolt in her left hand. After all, she knew what he was capable of.

He raised his hands slowly, "She doesn't know about Slade?"

"It wasn't on my list of things to do," she shrugged. "Vane is just another replaceable officer."

"And you're afraid she'll turn on you if she knows too much," he nodded.

She reached out and grabbed his upper arm, jerking him towards her so that the gun was poking his lower ribs. "I'm not afraid of anyone," she whispered menacingly, her lips so close to his ears that she could have kissed him if she wanted. It was satisfying, at least, to hold him close to her. This was what she had wanted earlier, after all.

He tried to wrench his arm out of her grasp, but he had forgotten about Tamaranean strength. For all his wits and tricky ways, he was not nearly strong enough to break free, not when she was accessing her strength like this. She was absolutely brimming with confidence, after all; she had Grayson in tow, Vane was humbled sufficiently, and her sister was still in the dark. Even better, she had Grayson in tow when Slade was coming; he would appreciate that, since she knew the two of them had old scores to settle.

"Speaking of which," he said, still talking despite the gun pressed into his side, "when are you planning to meet him?"

"He should be here any minute."

"You sure you're ready?"

She narrowed her eyes at him, "You've got a gun pointed at you, you're my prisoner, and you're about to meet an old enemy who'll probably kill you once I hand you over. And you want to know if _I _am ready?"

"I thought I was pretty clear when I spoke."

She rolled her eyes, "Let's just see if you're this confident when Slade actually gets here." She glanced up to see the docking bay doors opening as a small craft landed. "Which will be very soon, I see."


	21. 21 Waffles

Disclaimer: I own nothing related to Teen Titans or the DC Universe, thanks.

Chapter 20: Waffles

Now that she thought about it, she was probably playing right into his hands.

Vane shook her head, determined not to think about it. She didn't have to check up on Grayson's friends; she had seen them all in the docking bay, dressed in Tamaranean uniforms. The only thing that could keep her from marching right back to Blackfire was her sister, and that's where she was going.

She burst into the surveillance room to find three guards knocked out, Starfire standing in the middle of them looking murderous. When she saw Vane, she raised her starbolts, eyes glowing, "What are you doing here?"

"I came to find you, Highness," Vane said, raising her hands in a gesture of peace.

"Why? To attack me, as these dishonorable warriors have?" she snarled.

Vane's eyes widened, "They attacked you?"

"Yes. It seems they will not obey my orders anymore."

"They will only listen to Blackfire now," Vane nodded. It made sense; Blackfire had hand-picked everyone on the flagship, right down to the lowliest ensign. Of course she would pick people sympathetic to her cause.

"I have lost control of my own flagship," Starfire growled. "Are you certain my sister is behind this?"

"Positive, Highness."

Green eyes narrowed and began to glow, "She had overstepped her boundaries."

"Highness, if I might ask a question?"

The princess whirled around, her eyes still glowing, but her expression slightly softened, "You wish to know if I authorized the human lieutenant's mission?"

"Yes."

"I did."

Vane bit her lip; that just made her decision harder. She really should tell Blackfire that she was walking into a trap, but if Starfire had ordered the trap, she was completely within her rights to do so. After all, Blackfire set a trap for her sister, too.

"Vane, I require your word -- on your honor -- that you can be trusted."

"You have it, Highness." Vane's mind was working furiously; if Blackfire was working with Slade, as Grayson had suggested, she was putting all of Tamaran in danger. She was aligning herself with dishonorable villains, staining her name and the throne with it. And from what she knew of Grayson, it was probably a good idea to trust him.

"I am trusting the human and his companions to stop my sister from associating with the villain named Slade. She is putting herself and everyone else in danger. I plan to join them, even if it means I must fight my sister."

Vane could tell from the look in Starfire's eyes that she meant it, but she could also hear the sadness in her every word. It took a lot for Starfire to feel it necessary to turn against her own sister, no matter what Blackfire did to deserve it.

The wheels in her head were still turning. Grayson could beat her in a fair fight; she knew that now. And she had seen what the Azirian could do. But even with her help and Starfire's, could they really match up against an entire crew, Blackfire, _and _the notorious Slade?

She knew that even the fact that she was entertaining thoughts of helping them should tell her to help. After all, Starfire still held the throne, and there was something to be said for her self-restraint in not attacking Blackfire before this.

"Vane!"

She sighed; well, if she was going to throw her lot in with the losing team, at least she would go down with a fight.

TTTTT

"Snap."

Ensign Logan looked on with wide eyes, trying not to give himself away. If Blackfire figured out who they were, she would have new guards in there at a moment's notice, and they would all be in Robin's position.

Of course, his struggle to keep his composure was nothing compared to Commander Raven's. She was absolutely seething, and Cyborg was keeping half her face in shadow while she tried to regain control. He hoped she did that soon, because her eyes were almost glowing again, and he would rather not face another repeat of what happened in the shuttle.

"What do we do now?" he asked, turning to Cyborg, who usually knew what to do.

"We wait for Slade. Robin would kill us if we gave ourselves away."

"How's he gonna kill us if he's dead?"

"He's not dead yet."

He bit his lip and looked on, trying to remember to stand on his toes to look taller, since the guard who wore his uniform was much taller than he was. His eyes looked anywhere but the princess, since he knew guards weren't supposed to make eye contact. All the things Robin had tried to tell him in the two hour briefing slipped away, and, for the first time, he wished that he actually paid attention. If all four of them survived this mission, he would swear never to sleep through a briefing again. (But since he was pretty sure Robin was going to die, he might not have to keep that promise -- which was both a good and a bad thing, since he didn't want anyone to die, but he really didn't want to have to change his lazy ways.)

The ship landed in the docking bay, and Ensign Logan looked up to see Cyborg's eyes narrowing; he definitely recognized the ship. It was black and orange, and it gave off a strangely metallic glow, as if it hadn't been painted those colors, but the metals themselves were actually black and orange. (Ensign Logan remembered that, back on earth, black and orange were Halloween colors. And if what he heard about Slade was true, Halloween was a good description.)

The door to the one-man ship opened, and a large man stepped out. He wore a metallic uniform that was all black with silver armor around the shoulders, knees, and neck. But the mask was the scary part. It was half black and half orange, and the black part didn't have an eye. There were a few slits for the mouth so he could breathe, but that was it. Besides that, he just looked like some kind of robot.

Calm and composed, Slade stepped out of the ship, his metal boots making a strange clanking noise when they hit the floor. "What's this?" he asked when he approached Blackfire, but he did not sound surprised at all. Did nothing phase this guy?

"My . . . apology," Blackfire said, gesturing to Robin. It sounded like she hated the very word "apology", the way she had to practically spit it out of her mouth just to say it. And that made sense, of course. Members of royal families everywhere were used to getting what they wanted.

Slade chuckled, amused, as Blackfire tightened her grip on Robin's arm, forcing a slight grunt out of his tightly closed lips. Robin did not want her to get the best of him by crying out, but Ensign Logan knew that _had _to hurt. Tamaranean strength could bend a titanium bar in half, for crying out loud! She could probably snap his bones if she wanted to, and they both knew it. Ensign Logan started to take a step forward, but Cyborg reached out a hand to stop him.

Slade turned his head slightly to the right so that he could see Ensign Logan and the other "guards" in his peripheral vision. What is his imagination, or did that one eye narrow at them? "So, did you bring him all the way from the brig just for me?" Slade asked, and the tone of his voice told everyone around them that even he didn't believe that story.

Blackfire's mouth worked furiously, and to compensate, she tightened her grip on Robin even more, and Robin's eyes widened in surprised pain; he drew blood biting on his lips to keep from saying anything. "Actually, I think he was coming here to surprise us while we were meeting here," she said slowly. "Luckily, I apprehended him."

"So, he got away from you again?"

"A temporary lapse in security caused by my partner quitting," Blackfire shrugged. "It has been dealt with."

"And we have both seen how well you deal with temporary lapses," Slade sneered. "If you had any sense at all, you'd have killed him the minute you found him snooping around." To punctuate this remark, a black-gloved fist came from out of nowhere and hit Robin squarely in the stomach, knocking all the breath out of him as he doubled over.

This time, it was Commander Raven who took a step forward, coming to Robin's rescue (and not just because it was her duty to protect an officer under his command, he knew.) But Cyborg was too busy worrying about Ensign Logan to notice.

Slade turned all the way around this time, looking directly at the three of them. Even though the mask covered everything, Ensign Logan could just see the smile behind it. "Let's see," he said, tapping his chin. "Commander Raven, Commander Stone, and Ensign Logan, I presume?"

Knowing their cover was blown, Raven took off the guard's helmet. "Slade, you're under arrest under charges o-"

"Really, Commander?" Slade interrupted. "You're a little outside your jurisdiction. I believe only the Tamaraneans can make arrests here."

"You are correct," said a voice from the doorway. "As such, I, Koriand'r, High Ruler of Tamaran, place you under arrest."

TTTTTTT

Communications were cut off. Blackfire could not reach any of the loyal warriors on the ship. In fact, she could not even open the docking bay doors. It was just her, Slade, and six attackers. Not that she was worried. She could handle her little sister, and besides, she still had Grayson in tow.

"Cute _and _clever," she murmured in his ear, pleased. "Why didn't you tell me you were so devious, Richard? Or is it Robin? I've heard they call you that, too."

He narrowed his eyes, then threw himself backwards. Since she was still holding on to him and not expecting the move, she was thrown with him, and they both landed with a thud on the metal floor. He landed on her arm, trapping the gun underneath him so that she could not aim it, but she still had a good grip on his arm, too.

But he forgot about her eyes. She fired starbolts at him that way, releasing his arm so that he could roll a satisfying distance when she hit him. Now that she had her gun back, she could point it at him and keep him from getting to his feet.

"It seems like such a shame," she purred, kneeling down beside him so she could look into his gorgeous eyes. "I mean, I hate to waste anything, and killing you would be a _huge _waste."

She had no idea how he was flexible enough to get his leg up to face-level; all she knew was that his boot was suddenly in her face. As she shook her head to recover, he kicked the gun out of her hand and picked it up for himself, pointing it at her.

"It seems like such a shame," he smirked, "to waste away the rest of your life in jail."

"It's not as threatening if it ends in jail, not death," she pointed out.

He shrugged, "All part of playing on the right side of the law."

"Robin!" her sister shouted from across the docking bay.

His head jerked up, "Starfire?"

"Do not hurt my sister!"

That was all the distraction she needed. She shot the gun out of his hand with a starbolt, and they were back to square one, facing each other, ready to fight.

"Slade was right. I should have killed you when I had the chance."

"But it would be such a _waste_," he sneered.

She charged up a starbolt, ready to shut him up, but something heavy hit her from the side. Caught off-guard, she rolled aside, hitting her head against one of those heavy crates. As she blinked, trying to clear the cobwebs, she saw the half-human cyborg holding what looked like the wing of one of their fighters.

"Perfect timing, as usual," Grayson said as the cyborg helped him to his feet.

"I figured you'd want us to deal with her and you'd want to go after Slade yourself."

"Either I've gotten way too predictable, or our friendship is deeper than I thought," he chuckled.

"Too predictable," the cyborg teased. "Of course, if you want to get to Slade first, you'll have to beat Commander Raven there. I didn't realize she could do that much damage."

Surprised, Blackfire looked over to where the Azirian was, in fact, fighting Slade. And winning. Her eyes widened in surprise as she saw the commander's eyes glowing a bright white, while the infamous criminal doubled over in pain from an invisible attack.

Slade was losing? This was not going to end well.

TTTTT

Starfire slammed into the wall, stunned by the force of her sister's punch. Starfire, of course, had held back on her blows, not wanting to harm her sister, but Blackfire obviously did not share her concerns for her safety.

"Your Highness!" Vane shouted, coming to her aid. Vane blasted Blackfire with a starbolt, and the two of them nodded at each other, perfectly in sync without any prior training.

Vane blasted Blackfire from the side, while Starfire rained down a barrage of starbolts. When Blackfire tried to return fire, a green earth creature -- Starfire recalled hearing the word "gorilla" in one of her classes -- attacked, knocking the princess to the ground.

Starfire touched down beside her sister, whose eyes were fluttering as she lost consciousness. "Sister, I am sorry to say that you are under arrest."

"Yeah right," Blackfire breathed before she passed out.

Starfire looked over at Vane, then bit her lip, "As much as I am proud for our victory in battle, I am sorry that it was my sister."

"Me too," Vane nodded.

"Holy cow!" the changeling -- Beast Boy -- shouted, pointing. "Look at Raven!"

Starfire followed his pointing finger, and she was, in fact, impressed. The Azirian, whatever Starfire's personal opinion of her, was beating Slade handily. She picked him up through telekenesis, threw him against the wall, and then repeated the process. Robin was standing off to the side, his eyes wide as he watched her.

_Stop watching her_, said something inside of her. _She is simply losing her temper. I have been victorious over my own sister, does that not count for anything? _

Suddenly, when Slade hit the wall once more, she noticed something new: his armor sparked when he hit. Robin must have noticed it, too, because he motioned for the Azirian to stop her attack. Commander Raven obeyed, but held Slade up against the wall with her powers; he was unable to move.

Robin walked right up to Slade, his eyes full of malice. "Couldn't even come in person to see me, could you, Slade?" he growled, then ripped the mask off of the villain's face.

Instead of a face, the mask revealed a small computer screen surrounded by wires. The screen flickered to life, and a voice said, "You saw how the princess bungled everything up to this point. Did you think I was going to trust her enough to come there myself?"

"What? Too much of a coward to face me?" Robin snarled, and the tone in his voice actually scared her -- which was a big deal for a warrior of Tamaran.

"Patience." And then, the man's face was gone, replaced instead by a three second countdown.

"Get down!" Robin shouted, diving to the ground and taking Commander Raven with him. He landed on top of her, shielding her as the entire robot exploded.

The two of them sat there for a moment, surprised at finding themselves lying down together, but she was not about to let that moment last too long. She cleared her throat, "So, that was not really Slade?"

Robin immediately got to his feet, not a trace of blushing on his cheeks -- which was good for her, since she didn't want him getting too involved with that Azirian. "No, it wasn't," he said.

She looked at him, wondering what on earth could possibly cause that haunted look on his face. He had seemed so determined to catch Slade, but now that he got away again, he was slowly returning to normal.

Cyborg seemed to sense that Robin needed some time alone, so he broke in with a huge smile, "Well, Blackfire's under arrest, Starfire's got the Tamaranean fleet on the way, and Slade's sorta gone, right? This calls for waffles!"


	22. Epilogue

I am so, so sorry for not updating this. There's really no excuse, although my internet being on the fritz and not letting me log into this site is sort of okay, right?

Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to Teen Titans or the DC Universe.

Epilogue

What a beauty.

He stood on the loading platform, drinking in the grandeur of a brand-new, Class E ship. The new flagship, to be precise. And it was all his.

Well, okay, technically it was the captain's. But as chief engineer, he claimed all bragging rights when she did something amazing. Which she definitely would. She was Class E!

High Command had offered him a promotion to captain, but he assured them that he was fine in engineering. (Or at least, that was his cover story. Really, he just couldn't pass up the chance to play with a Class E engine. Had they _seen _the thrusters on this baby? They were crazy!)

"Try not to drool on my new paint job," chuckled a familiar voice behind him.

He snapped to attention, but he couldn't quite wipe the grin off his face. "Hey, Raven."

She smiled, her hands absently playing with the rank insignie on her neck. She was still getting used to the idea of "Captain Raven", he could tell. When she saw his eyes on her hands, though, she cleared her throat and put her hands back down at her side. "She's all ours, Cyborg," Raven said, her eyes glued to the beautiful ship.

"Yeah. The new flagship. Can you believe it?"

"No, I can't." She fell silent, watching as more and more officers loaded onto the ship. He could just see the wheels in her head turning; she was now responsible for hundreds of lives, and she could only hope that she lived up to expectations. Suddenly, she tilted her head ot the side, studying him silently. "So, you know I haven't picked a first officer yet, right?"

"Sorry. You couldn't pull me away from that engine if you tried."

"Not for anything?"

He grinned, "I'll always be available to give advice."

"Yeah. Not so helpful."

He shrugged, "What can I say? Class E engine was calling my name!"

"Yeah," she sighed, still staring straight ahead. "My first choice turned me down, too."

"Robin?"

"Can't pull him out of security."

"I'll talk to him."

"And what are you going to say to him that I couldn't say myself?"

"I'm going to say you were considering Roy Harper since he turned you down."

"The security officer I want to be security chief if Richard accepts?"

"The very same."

"He wouldn't believe it. He knows I hate security officers."

"Doesn't matter. He's a hypercompetitive little dipstick where Roy is concerned."

"Hypercompetitive little dipstick?"

"Don't knock my insults!"

She chuckled, "If you get Richard Grayson to reconsider my officer, I'll stop making fun of your euphemisms."

"Deal."

TTTTT

Ten Forward was absolutely packed as everyone arrived, meeting and mingling and making new friends. Richard smiled softly, sipping from his glass and watching it all unfold. It was one of the advantages of growing up on the flagship; he already knew everyone who was worth knowing.

"Enjoying the party? Is it really more fun to watch than to join everyone else?"

"Hey, Wally."

The redheaded security officer grinned and plopped down next to him. "Betcha didn't expect to see me here, huh?"

"I read the roster, Wally."

"Stick in the mud," Wally said, sticking his tongue out.

He shrugged, "Nothing wrong with being honest."

"Yeah, yeah. Hey, did you see the head surgeon? His name's, like, Joey or something and he talks even less than you do! You'd get along great; why don't you go make nice?"

"I pass."

"Whatever. But anyway, the head nurse is _hot_; have you seen her? Her name's Jinx - you know, like bad luck for anyone that tries to mess with her, I guess? Not that I'm not going to try - and would you believe her hair is _pink_? I know, crazy, right?" Wally chuckled. his eyes scanned the crowd, finding a certain green ensign and his blonde friend. "Hey, who're the newbies? We've got a couple on our hands already!"

"That would be Ensign Logan," he smiled, "and I'm guessing her name is Terra. He said she was graduating the Academy this year."

"And her first assignment is with her boyfriend? Nice." Wally grinned in the couple's general direction, leaning casually against the counter. Suddenly, he sat up straighter, "Oh! Hey!"

"Hello to you, too."

"Har har. No, I mean, hey - I just remembered something."

"You could have just said that."

"This is why I'm friends with you. You need help holding normal conversations," Wally laughed. "But yeah, Cyborg told me the captain's thinking about making Roy Harper the first officer, since you and he turned her down and everything."

"Roy?"

Wally grinned after him as he ran out the door.

TTTTTTT

Captain Raven stepped onto the bridge, and she had to remind herself not to jump when everyone snapped to attention. They were saluting _her, _after all. She nodded at Lieutenant Harper standing behind the tactical controls. Ensign Logan couldn't stop beaming as he stood at the helm. And Koriand'r - Starfire - stood behind the weapons controls.

Just a few months ago, after the disastrous encounter with Slade and Blackfire, Starfire decided to explore the idea of allying her planet with the Federation. To help her with that decision, she thought that the best way to learn about the cultures she would be joining herself to was to serve with them. She took some basic training and, after gaining the honorary rank of lieutenant, asked to be transferred to the _Titan_. Meanwhile, Tamaran was under the temporary rule of one Galfore.

Raven knew how diplomatically important Starfire's presense was, but that didn't mean she had to like it. Just so long as the princess spent more time working and less time flirting with Richard Grayson . . . .

Speak of the devil . . . .

The door opened to the bridge, and Richard Grayson stolled in, his signature, self-assured smile stretching up to his eyes. "I heard you're looking for a first officer."

_Cyborg, you're a genius. _"Yes I am."

"You mind if I submit my own name?"

She stuck her hand out to shake his, "Look here, Commander Grayson. The job's yours if you want it."

He gave her hand a quick squeeze in a semblance of a shake, then sat down in the first officer's chair pointedly. "Awaiting your orders, Captain."


End file.
